Have Arroyo treated for humanitarian reason (Don’t make GMA a martyr)

Fprmer President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

If you ask me, I really would like to see former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo serve her full term in jail or rot in jail, whichever comes, if found guilty of electoral sabotage, breach of ethics and plunder charges filed against her.

For a leader who often described herself as the ‘mother of the country’, I can’t seem to reconcile how she could have wanted the people to believe that she was our ‘mother’ when in fact what she did in wanting badly to stay in power, committing graft and corruption, and supporting criminal-politicians are all unconscionable.

We continued to be a basket case in Asia despite her much touted doctoral degree in economics. Instead of helping improve the situation we found ourselves in as a country and people, she screwed us up with the help of her politicians son, her political cohorts and a scheming husband, who himself has had brushes with the law.

But, that is now neither here nor there.

Because of her present health predicament, I would rather that government heed the advice of our own specialist doctors that she be treated abroad, if our own skills and facilities here are inadequate to fix her. It is for no other reason, than humanitarian.

Dr. Roberto Anastacio, a cardiologist at Makati Medical Center (MMC), said the shifting parts of a metal brace on the cervical spine of Arroyo had become more “progressive and aggressive,” causing her to have increasing difficulty in breathing and swallowing.

In a medical bulletin issued, Anastacio said the results of the quantum-CT scan showed that the 6-cm titanium plate and cage in Arroyo’s neck had shifted some more since May, further pushing into muscles and causing “protrusions” in the walls of her air and food pathways.

The protrusions, Anastacio said, may result in abnormal breathing, leading to sudden disturbance of blood circulation and “sudden death.”

This worsening diagnosis of Arroyo’s health, while it is not good for her, is neither beneficial for the country.

The reason why this updated news of Arroyo’s health disturbs me is because, first, I don’t want her to die a martyr, and, second, let her serve her full term in jail in good health, and/or rot in jail, whichever comes first, as I have mentioned above.

Let us not give her a chance to die a martyr because it would only be exploited and create unnecessary chaos that will only set back the progress we have attained under President Benigno Aquino. Let us not elevate her stature to somebody she is not – even in death. She is a disgrace and that is it.

I doubt very much that once she is cured and finds her strength back, that she will opt to stay abroad and not come back. She will be foolish to that.  It will only show how guilty she is.

‘Clean conscience’ or thick-faced Arroyo

The world knows now where former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is, but not before resolving an issue on whether or not she will be brought to her spruced up detention quarters at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), from her plushy suite at the St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC), by air travel or by land.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) preferred air transfer for security reasons, but the family thought otherwise for safety reasons, due to the worsening weather condition in Metro Manila at the time, and the latter got their wish.

I am just amazed how Arroyo has become a magnet for controversy that even her transfer from one hospital to another, to continue her hospital arrest, has to be disputed.  If the bad weather was an omen to her destined gloomy fate, then it is only her undoing.

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

Arroyo adulators, in the course of the ignominious event involving herself, have kept on harping that she deserves to be treated with respect, not as an individual who run the presidency, but because the office of the president has to be respected.

I have no quarrel with that. But, my question is: Has Arroyo showed respect for the office of the president?

It utterly seems that she has not or else why does she find herself buried in deep shit now if she honored the sanctity of the office?

No, she used it and abused it for political and personal gains. To put it bluntly, she corrupted it.

Yet, a day before her transfer of hospitals, in an exclusive interview with GMA News’ Arnoldo Clavio, Arroyo accused the Aquino administration of having prejudged her and engaging in demagoguery.

“What I can say is that I have peace of mind. My conscience is clean,” Arroyo said.

“My only objective was to serve. Now, I am already prejudged by the new administration. They are even using demagoguery to vilify me completely. Of course, if I am vilified, he would look competent,” she added.

In plain words what she was imputing is that President Benigno Aquino has done nothing but besmirch her reputation.

Look who is talking!

Arroyo’s face is her reputation, her dignity or prestige and that is the reason why many approved that she took over the presidency from the irresponsible Joseph “Erap” Estrada because she had the trust of the Filipino people.

But, who would ever think that after nearly a decade in power she would step down with some of the worst popularity ratings of any modern Philippine leader, largely because of the widespread belief she was an extremely corrupt president.

That belief has been affirmed as she is now being detained on electoral sabotage charges and perhaps an array of other charges later for corrupt acts she allegedly committed while in power, including plundering state coffers.

In that interview with Clavio, Arroyo was playing hardball and talking tough, but isn’t this mode only showing her thick face at the expense of the moral standards of the presidency?

Arroyo should consider Erap wisdom

Cartoon images of Ex-Presidents Joseph "Erap" Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

I never was a big fan of Joseph “Erap” Estrada – not in his acting career and more so not in his presidency.

He may have been successful as an actor, but the fact that he was booted out of the presidential palace and convicted of plunder speaks volume of what and how he was as president.

Outside of the presidency, however, Erap has turned into a new leaf. Whether it is because of advancing age or having been humbled by a shameful past, what have changed are his demeanor and his perception of things right.

Had he carried and exercise this good conduct and intelligent insights when he was president, instead of showing mediocrity, he could have moved this country forward to progress. Alas, his stint was another disastrous experience for the nation and its people.

But, that is neither here nor there now for history has spoken.

What is admirable about Erap now is that he has grown wiser. Is he a late bloomer? Well, who knows, but at any rate, I am beginning to admire him, without necessarily being a big fan.

Lately, Erap has been giving unsolicited advises to President Benigno Aquino and they all make sense. There seems to be wisdom in his pronouncements.

But, what really caught my attention and made me duff my hat to him is his advice to the embattled ex-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA), who, ironically, took over from Erap the presidency and has not mince words in how corrupt he was, and who now finds herself in the same league with her predecessor, with the state accusing her of plunder and, worst, for electoral sabotage.

So, look who is talking now!

While the issue is being debated on whether or not GMA be allowed to seek treatment abroad for a condition which doctors says is not life threatening and which, in fact, showed progress after her post-operative consultation, Erap, on the other hand, is giving her an unsought for advice on what she ought to do.

“My unsolicited advice to her (Arroyo) is for her to face the charges first. Then when she is put behind bars, then that’s the only time she can request for medical treatment abroad,” Estrada intimated.

Aren’t those words of wisdom? Erap knows whereof he speaks because he, too, needed medical treatment for his osteoporotic knees that needed replacement.

The good thing about Erap is that he listened and knew a doctor who was so credible that when he appeared before the Sandiganbayan special division to seek permission for Erap to be allowed to undergo knee surgery in Hong Kong, it was immediately granted.

“I requested only one country and that is Hong Kong because my doctor said his equipment were all in Hong Kong. He was suggesting that I undergo medical treatment in the US, but I decided to undergo knee surgery in Hong Kong,” Erap said.

Note that when he sought medical treatment abroad there was no specialist that could handle the kind of surgery he had to have at that time.

The same could not be said, however, of Arroyo. Naming so many countries she intends to go and not mentioning any specific hospital she wants to be confined at nor knowing who the medical specialist is going to be to operate on her not only leave doubts about her true intentions but creates apprehensions, especially that she insists on traveling with an entourage of about 14 people.

According to Erap, when he left for medical treatment abroad, he only had his wife and three policemen.

So, could you blame President Aquino and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima if they are circumspect in their actions towards Arroyo, especially knowing how sly she could be?

Arroyo denied treatment abroad

Ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

Is it good for former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, as in good for her, and favorable for the country or is it harmful for her and inopportune for the nation?

Am not trying to play hardball in agreeing with the Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary and I think neither is Leila de Lima trying to be rough and ruthless in denying treatment for the former president abroad, but this is all Arroyo’s own folly.

I don’t think any government official has the absolute right to deny a citizen treatment abroad unless he or she has committed an offense that will bar him or her from leaving, and to hell with humanitarian considerations.

The problem with Arroyo’s case is that she continues to be foxy, as she has always been, even in her medical condition.

There does not seem to have a credible medical bulletin coming out from a lone, respected and authoritative medical specialist that would announce to all and sundry that what she is suffering from is life threatening and that treatment has to be outside the country because our doctors are incapable of doing it and that we are inadequately equipped.

What happens, to the consternation of the public, is that even political allies, beholden to the former president, are making pronouncements that she should be allowed to seek treatment abroad despite not having the knowledge of her true physical condition. They are simply parroting some of the doctor’s statements relative to her sickness.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima

But, what is really making Secretary de Lima careful and sensible in action and thought on whether or not Arroyo, who is facing charges of plunder and malversation of public funds as well as electoral sabotage, be allowed to leave, is the assessment of Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Enrique Ona, saying, “there appears to be no urgent and immediate medical emergency situation for applicant to seek medical treatment abroad” and that Mrs. Arroyo “is recuperating reasonably well” from the three spinal surgeries, which she underwent using local facilities.

Ms. de Lima also cited inconsistencies in the list of destination countries that Mrs. Arroyo submitted to her office.

The same concern was expressed by Senator Panfilo Lacson when he said that “Arroyo’s real destinations are Austria, Germany and Spain. But her request at the House of Representatives indicated that she wanted to travel in the United States, Spain, Germany, Italy and Singapore.”

“And all countries that she intends to travel to have no extradition treaty (with the Philippines),” Lacson added.

Since the charges against Arroyo are matters of high national interest, de Lima is exercising prudence and not taking unnecessary risk of losing her. And rightly so!

“If her condition is that bad, why go to several destinations?” de Lima asked.

Lacson further aired his apprehensions when he said, “GMA (Arroyo’s  initials) listed 14 members of her entourage including Medy Poblador, her suspected bag lady. Isn’t it suspicious that instead of strictly family members, it seems that she’s bringing with her the whole secretariat?”

If Arroyo has to bring with her all these people for reasons she only knows and spend enormous amount of money, why can’t she just have the foreign doctors come over and spend less? Not that I am questioning her capacity to pay.

Definitely this has fallen into a legal issue now that no other than the Supreme Court has to decide.

Now nobody can say that the former president has not been given due process befitting her stature.