Arroyo now deputy speaker

Rep. and former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON

Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may not have had the chance to attend a single session during the last Congress, but now she is set to take a leadership role in the House of Representatives as deputy speaker for Central Luzon.

Arroyo, who was released barely a month ago by the Supreme Court from her four-year hospital detention at Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), said on Wednesday that she has been nominated two days ago by lawmakers from Central Luzon to become their deputy speaker through a round of applause.

“We had lunch together and our president [Bulacan Rep. Linabelle Ruth] Villarica told our fellow members, ‘We would like to nominate our former president to be represented as deputy speaker.’ We clapped. Okay, okay. Approve, approve. That’s how it goes,” Arroyo cheerily recalled in an interview with reporters.

Arroyo’s designation as deputy speaker is seen as part of the Duterte administration’s plan to test how the government would work under a federal system.

Arroyo, accompanied by former first gentleman Mike Arroyo, returned to the VMMC yesterday to sign the deed of donation for the two dialysis units she gave to the hospital, which caters to at most 60 patients daily.

The former president, who is suffering from a rare spine disease, is set to fly to Munich, Germany, next month. She said that she would undergo “stem cell therapy” there, noting that it “would be the one that is short of surgery.” She will also go to France and Hong Kong to “meet Filipino communities” there, among others. Jovic Yee