Allies won’t give up on Arroyo’s foreign trip

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. CONTRIBUTED FILE PHOTO

Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s allies in the House of Representatives are not giving up on her bid to seek medical treatment abroad.

As promised, Minority Leader Danilo Suarez filed a resolution urging the chamber to “give an objective consideration and review of the serious and delicate medical condition of a colleague and incumbent congressman.”

But the resolution stopped short of asking that Arroyo be allowed to leave the country, a decision, Suarez said, was better left to authorities.

Up to Congress

“I don’t want to say that Congress is asking that she be sent abroad,” he told reporters. “It’s up to them. My point is we did our job to help a colleague.”

To determine if Arroyo indeed needs to go through a medical procedure abroad, Suarez suggested that the administration gather Arroyo’s attending physicians and independent doctors for a medical conference.

Suarez said the group could “sit down, look again at those findings and come out with a conclusion.”

“Two things: Can it be done here or do we have to send her abroad? That decision is beyond us (in the House),” he said.

Asked if the House minority would agree if the Aquino administration insists that Arroyo be treated in the country, Suarez said: “That point is this: Let’s say she gets treated here, who would do the procedure?”

“She has been opened three times and still there is a problem,” he said, referring to the operations Arroyo had gone through to address her ailing cervical spine.

Last week, Dr. Roberto Anastacio of the Makati Medical Center told the media that Arroyo should have her next operation abroad to fix the shifting titanium plates that have been blocking her breathing and swallowing.

Originally posted at 09:31 pm | Wednesday, August 22, 2012