Arroyo slows down Pampanga tour

Former president now congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo greets residents of Porac at the Babo Sacan Elementary School, Porac, Pampanga. RAFFY LERMA/INQUIRER

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines – Exhausted after meeting her supporters in Porac town on Friday, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo scaled down her visit to Guagua on Saturday.

Instead of leading an inspection of post-harvest facilities and a P4-million road in Guagua, Arroyo spent 20 minutes interacting with village leaders at a hall in in the town’s Barangay Ebus.

“She is tired,” said Guagua Mayor Ricardo Rivera [not Ramos as earlier reported]. “We understand why.”

Arroyo, who is out on bail in an electoral sabotage case, did not address some 500 residents who gathered at the barangay hall and adjacent day care center, although she acknowledged them with a wave. She wore a soft brace on her neck.

She left just before the rains fell, Rivera said.

At the Babo Sacan Elementary School in Porac, Arroyo addressed the crowd, assuring them of future projects while hinting of running again for the seat she now occupies in the House of Representatives in the 2013 midterm elections.

Her supporters embraced her, held or kissed her hand. “She’s hard-headed. She should not be tiring herself too much. What she must do is rest,” Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

After the Porac visit, Arroyo holed herself up in her room for a long night’s rest, Pelayo said.

When she was President, her one-hour visits to Pampanga usually consisted of five to six events at different locations. She would walk briskly during those visits and would be alert when speaking with common folk.

In Barangay Ebus on Saturday, she gave raincoats to children before heading back to Manila.

Earlier in the morning, she attended a Mass officiated by 21 priests in her house beside the St. Augustine Parish in Barangay San Nicolas I in Lubao town. It was closed to the media. People milled outside the main gate of the house.

Archbishop Paciano Aniceto did not attend, although Pampanga Governor Lilia Pineda, Pelayo, Mexico Mayor Teddy Tumang and Mabalacat Mayor Marino Morales joined the former President.

Pelayo said Arroyo could be “putting up a brave front.”

“She’s not the type who invites pity. She’s showing she’s determined to resume work,” he said.