Radiant Gloria Arroyo faces media: Freedom is always healthy

Former president now Pampanga lawmaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo attends her first press conference as deputy speaker since she was released after four years in hospital detention. Photo by Marc Jayson Cayabyab/INQUIRER.net

Freedom can work wonders.

A month-and-a-half after the Supreme Court set her free from hospital detention over plunder charges, a beautiful and radiant Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo faced media on Monday.

READ: Arroyo walks free after 4 yrs of hospital detention

It was the first time the deputy speaker led a press conference since her release from four years of hospital detention for allegedly conspiring to plunder P366 million from the Philippines Charity Sweepstakes Office when she was still President.

The Supreme Court ordered the release of Arroyo on July 19 after the tribunal ruled that her approval of the release of PCSO funds was only ministerial and did not constitute an “overt act” of plunder.

READ: SC: Arroyo OK on fund release not ‘overt act’ of plunder
During her detention at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, she often appeared weak and frail. She also wore a neck brace and was often in a wheelchair. Documents submitted to the Sandiganbayan which was hearing her case depicted Arroyo’s condition as “worsening.”

READ: Arroyo’s health not improving, VMMC med bulletin shows | ‘Arroyo has turned frail, thinner in hospital, should be granted house arrest’ 

During the press briefing, a reporter engaged the former President in banter and described her as “radiant.”

The reporter asked Arroyo about her state of health, noting that freedom seemed to have had an impact on her looks.

“Freedom is always very healthy,” said Arroyo, who was in a bright red trench coat. Her hair and face were made up. Her nails sported hot pink nail polish.

Gone was her neck brace.

With the crowd laughing, Arroyo returned the banter: “Baka humihingi kayo ng beauty tips.”

Arroyo said she did not know her state of health because she had not yet consulted her doctor regarding her cervical spondylosis, a degenerative disease of the bones and cartilage of the neck.

She said she would undergo stem cell treatment in Germany after the Sandiganbayan allowed her travel motion even as she faces a graft trial due to the National Broadband Network-ZTE anomalous deal./rga

READ: Court allows Arroyo to go abroad for vacation, treatment | Arroyo denies graft charges in broadband deal with China firm