Senator Estrada has Gloria Arroyo’s ailment

By: Marlon Ramos - 10 years ago

MANILA, Philippines—Will“Sexy” be doing a Gloria?

Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who is accused of helping himself to more than P183 million of his pork barrel allocations, has been diagnosed with mild cervical spondylosis, commonly known as arthritis of the neck.

Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was also suffering from the same age-related degenerative condition of the joints of the neck when she petitioned the Sandiganbayan to be placed under hospital arrest after she underwent an operation to correct the condition in 2011.

Like Arroyo, Estrada has been charged with plunder and graft in connection with the P10 billion pork barrel scam allegedly hatched by Janet Lim-Napoles, and is detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame.

Alexis Abastillas-Suarez, one of Estrada’s lawyers, earlier said the senator wanted to go for a medical checkup after the pain he was experiencing on both shoulders worsened.

In a compliance report filed by his lawyers on Oct. 3, Estrada said he underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on his cervical spine and left shoulder at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan, where he once served as mayor.

He also had a blood examination and ultrasound on his stomach to determine his physical condition after he complained of nagging pain in both shoulders.

“The MRI findings, ultrasound report and hematology results are submitted in compliance with the court’s directive to submit to the same after his allowed medical examination request last September 22, 2014,” his lawyer said in the compliance report.

The medical test done by Dr. Kenneth Tan also showed that Estrada had “no spinal canal or foraminal stenosis at any level.”

The ultrasound, on the other hand, showed that the senator’s internal organs were all normal, but he had “left renal cortical cysts and mild prostate gland enlargement.”