MANILA, Philippines – What’s the true medical condition of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo?
Palace officials apparently got confused after they reacted to news early Sunday that Arroyo had been advised by her doctors to seek treatment abroad. The news was attributed to Arroyo’s spokesperson, who later denied saying it.
The conflicting reports were compounded by “rumors” that Arroyo’s condition had become critical over the weekend, and with St. Luke’s Medical Center not issuing a medical bulletin on its VIP patient.
On Saturday, Arroyo’s spokesperson, lawyer Raul Lambino, was quoted in a news website as saying that doctors had advised his client to seek treatment either in the United States or Singapore for her damaged spine after undergoing surgeries on July 29 and Aug. 10.
Sought for comment on Sunday, President Aquino’s deputy spokesperson Abigail Valte said it would be up to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to decide whether Arroyo could leave the country, since it was De Lima who ordered the former President placed on the immigration watch list in view of the plunder cases filed against her.
“We will defer to the judgment of Secretary de Lima on this matter because it involves the issue on the watch list that needs to be tackled,” Valte said on state-run radio station dzRB.
Told of the Palace position, De Lima explained in a text message that she “cannot comment yet on that until I have their (Arroyos’) formal request.”
Later in the day, however, Lambino denied making such a statement and lashed out on what he called a “disinformation campaign” against the ailing Arroyo and her family.
“While she’s confined at St. Luke’s battling the postsurgical infection on her cervical spine, rumors are circulating in text messages and some media reports, such as her being in very critical condition, that she’s already paralyzed and her doctors have advised the family to bring her abroad for treatment,” he said.
“Worse, some have irresponsibly attributed these statements as emanating from me, which I heretofore categorically deny,” he added.
Lambino said it was “un-Christian and merciless” for people to speculate that the former President was only feigning illness to evade prosecution.
“The disinformation campaign now has completely unmasked the character of the witch-hunt being orchestrated by the government with the unleashing of their political operators who are acting like mad dogs or hungry hyenas salivating to devour their prey,” he said.
In a phone interview, Lambino maintained that the former President was “in a far better shape than she was two days before,” based on what her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, told him on Saturday night.
Lambino said the Arroyo family was incensed by the attacks on the ailing congresswoman, saying her critics had shown “brazen disregard for good manners and right conduct.”
But the President’s spokesperson Edwin Lacierda wondered why it was Lambino and not the doctors who appeared to be giving updates on Arroyo’s status.
“We want to make it clear that we wish the former President success in her operation and we wish her well,” Lacierda said.
Lambino, he said, should be more “prudent” in making statements concerning his client’s condition.
“He should let doctors issue the medical bulletin,” the Palace mouthpiece said. “Maybe the former President’s medical state should be left to her doctors and not her spokesperson who will say one thing and later on deny it.”
An ABS-CBN website report on Saturday quoted Lambino as saying that Arroyo’s doctors had advised her to go abroad for treatment, but that she chose to remain in the country to dispel speculations that she was avoiding the cases filed against her.
In the same report, Lambino described Arroyo’s condition as serious and quoted her doctors as saying that her infection, if not stopped, could reach her brain and lead to meningitis, complete paralysis, or a stroke.
Doctors late last month put titanium implants on Arroyo’s misaligned spine, but they had to operate again a few days later after the implants were dislodged. An infection, however, had prevented surgeons from making the needed correction.
St. Luke’s last issued a medical bulletin on Arroyo on Thursday. None was issued on Sunday despite rumors that sent reporters rushing to the hospital in Taguig City.
In a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the hospital’s vice president for customer affairs, Marilen Lagniton, said: “If there is any change in her condition, we would give you a medical bulletin.”
Also on Sunday, Valte maintained that “the wheels of justice have to turn” with regards to the cases faced by Arroyo.
This was in reaction to an appeal aired by Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz calling for a pause in the investigations for humanitarian reasons.