Vicky Toh on medication — Lawyer

Not even the distance could spare one from mental anguish.

Victoria "Vicky" Toh is on medication for anxiety and depression caused by the controversy surrounding the Jose Pidal account, according to her lawyer Gelacio Mamaril.

Mamaril said Toh, who is currently in Canada, is deeply embarrassed by insinuations she was having an affair with her employer, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson accused Mr. Arroyo of money laundering by maintaining several bank accounts under the name Jose Pidal in supposed partnership with Toh.

"Miss Toh cannot even go out from their family home in Canada because of the continued embarrassment she is being subjected to by the lies and fake evidence of Senator Lacson. She is now under medical treatment for anxiety and depression," Mamaril said.

The First Gentleman earlier admitted the controversy has strained his relationship with President Arroyo and their children, particularly their only daughter Luli.

On nationwide television, a mournful looking First Gentleman took the blame for his family’s present emotional troubles, and apologized to the President and their daughter.

Mr. Arroyo also belied that he and Toh were lovers and expressed pity for Toh who he said was being dragged into the controversy triggered by a series of privileged speeches by Lacson.

Also disturbing to Toh, Mamaril said, are the allegations of opposition Sen. Sergio Osmeña III that Toh was able to purchase a $858,000 property despite the ongoing controversy.

Mamaril branded Osmeña’s allegations "as mere lies" and dared the opposition lawmaker to substantiate his claims.

"To continue destroying her reputation with repeated lies is nothing less than the height of injustice and persecution," he said.

Toh, the First Gentleman’s personal secretary and accountant of a realty firm owned by the Arroyo clan, has repeatedly denied Lacson’s claim that she was among those maintaining the Jose Pidal accounts.

Toh has denied having an affair with Arroyo, and accused Lacson of "fomenting something to disrupt or break up marriages."

She denied having written the love letter to the First Gentleman that Lacson showed during a privilege speech before the Senate two weeks ago.

In his speech, Lacson also showed a letter, purportedly written by Toh to Arroyo, proving that a check for P8 million was written by Toh and deposited into the Jose Pidal account.

Lacson had charged that Mr. Arroyo was hiding up to P128 million in several secret bank accounts, three of them under the name Jose Pidal.

Toh jointly owned two of the Jose Pidal accounts, containing a total of P49 million, Lacson claimed.

Mr. Arroyo also used the accounts of Toh and those of Toh’s brother Thomas and brother-in-law Kelvin Tan, Lacson claimed.

After the controversy broke out, the President said the First Gentleman could clear his own name and Malacañang has since remained mum on the issue.