Senate to summon Arroyo’s doctors

MANILA, Philippines — Former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s doctors might be summoned at the Senate next week to determine her real health condition.

But Senator Teofisto Guingona III, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, admitted that Arroyo’s health issue would only be “incidental” to the Senate’s inquiry into the alleged electoral fraud committed in 2007.

“Next week, we plan to call the doctors of GMA (Arroyo’s initials) because the core of the controversy is GMA’s claim that that her condition is urgent and life-threatening,” Guingona said in Filipino during a joint press conference on Wednesday with Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan.

Guingona noted, however, that Arroyo’s doctors themselves had certified in court that she could recover in six to eight months.

The senator also wondered why only the lawyers and not the doctors of Arroyo were talking in public about her health condition.

“Walang nagsasalita na doctors tungkol sa kanyang medical condition, Ang nagsasalita mga abugado nya, bakit kaya? (No doctor is speaking up on her medical condition. Only her lawyers are talking. Why is that?)” asked Guingona.

Asked why Arroyo’s health condition would be part of the electoral fraud investigation, Guingona said, “It’s an incident to the case of electoral fraud. It’s not a main issue.”

Pangilinan came to Guingona’s rescue, saying the Senate should inquire into Arroyo’s medical condition since it is being used by the former leader as a reason to leave the country.

“There’s a desire for them to leave which may hamper and precisely frustrate the efforts of the committee in pursuing its investigation. There’s a pending resolution, it’s being investigated, the investigation will be hampered if she leaves on the basis of her medical condition,” Pangilinan said.