Arroyo seeks Sandigan’s nod for breast check-up

Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – After her breast job, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo now wants a breast check-up.

The current Pampanga representative detained for plunder has asked the Sandiganbayan’s permission for her to undergo a mammogram to check her breast for cancer.

In a motion for leave filed before the anti-graft court first division, Arroyo said she wants to have a mammogram, or basically a breast examination through x-ray, at the Makati Medical Center on December 18 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Arroyo said the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), where she is under hospital detention for plunder, does not have an equipment to perform a conclusive mammogram.

She said she wants her breasts checked for cancer, especially as her mother had breast cancer.

“She needs to undergo a follow-up mammogram as she has a high risk of developing breast cancer because her mother had breast cancer. Dr. Theresa Lopez, her personal physician of fifteen years, has advised her to undergo mammogram at least yearly,” the motion read.

She also said she had her last mammogram in August 2012.

Arroyo said she would immediately return to the VMMC after the mammogram.

Arroyo made the request on the heels of a controversy involving her breast implants that she had back in the 1980s.

In 2009, newspaper columns claimed Arroyo had lied to the public when she said she had checked into the Asian Hospital in Muntinlupa City for self-quarantine against the new Influenza H1N1 virus after a trip to South America, and to undergo routine tests. Reports said the President had actually undergone mammoplasty repair of leaking breast implants.

The Palace then clarified that the President underwent biopsies on lumps on her breast and groin, but did not say specifically it was to replace leaking implants. It also confirmed that Arroyo had breast implants.

She has been under hospital detention for plunder for allegedly using P366 million in intelligence funds for the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office from 2008 to 2010 for personal gain.