Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo won’t give up House post

Angeles City—Ailing former President Macapagal Arroyo will not give up her post as representative of the second district of Pampanga, according to a close ally here.

Arroyo remains confined at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City where she underwent a third set of spinal surgeries.

“I don’t think [the former president] will abdicate her post,” said Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan, former vice president of the erstwhile administration party, Lakas Kampi-CMD.

Pamintuan also said he did not expect that Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda would fill in Arroyo’s shoes in 2013.  Pineda, a long-time friend of Arroyo, has led medical missions in the second district’s towns.

The post was held twice by Arroyo’s eldest son, Ang Galing Pinoy party-list Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo.

Arroyo could continue dispatching her duties in the second district towns of Guagua, Lubao, Sasmuan, Sta. Rita, Floridablanca and Porac since her health appeared to be improving even as she prepared for another surgery, Pamintuan said.

Arroyo last visited the district on July 25 when she skipped the State of the Nation Address of President Aquino in Congress. Later the same day, she went to the St. Luke’s Medical Center and was subsequently confined after complaining of pains in the neck.

Pamintuan said Arroyo was “affected and sad” by the departure of her allies, including Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales, who joined the Nationalist People’s Coalition last month.

Gonzales said he left Lakas “in the interest of his constituents.”

Pamintuan said Pineda expressed chagrin about Gonzales’ decision to leave Lakas after she learned that Gonzales had received P700–million worth of projects for the third district.

“[Gonzales] left GMA despite the many help she gave to the [third] district,” Pamintuan said. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon