Arroyo stable after melon incident; bed rest advised

Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. JOAN BONDOC

MANILA, Philippines—Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was in stable condition at Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) on Saturday, two days after she choked on a piece of melon, causing her to suffer fresh neck and back pains.

VMMC Director Dr. Nona Legaspi said the former President was on intravenous medication.

Legaspi could not say how long Arroyo would be confined at the hospital.

Arroyo was taken back to the VMMC Thursday night complaining of pain in her neck and lower back after choking on a piece of melon during dinner with her family.

Her effort to remove the melon must have strained her neck, doctors said.

Arroyo left the state-run hospital a week ago after a Pasay City court hearing her electoral sabotage case allowed her to post bail.

Arroyo is temporarily free on P1-million bail, but the court has forbidden her to travel to other countries.

Her doctors, too, have told her to avoid traveling and advised her to take a complete bed rest.

She had traveled to her district in Pampanga in preparation for a run for reelection next year and dropped in on the House of Representatives before she began to feel fresh neck and back pains Thursday night.