NBI chief in coma after stroke

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Reynaldo Wycoco suffered a stroke and fell into a deep coma yesterday morning.

The 59-year-old Wycoco, a police general before being tapped by President Arroyo to head the NBI, was fighting for his life last night at the intensive care unit of the Manila Doctors Hospital (MDH) on UN Avenue in Manila.

MDH cardiologist Dante Morales said Wycoco is in serious condition and the next few hours today may determine if he will regain consciousness and recover normal body functions.

Wycoco suffered a hemorrhagic stroke caused by a ruptured aneurysm in the brain, Morales said.

Wycoco had a history of fluctuating high blood pressure but kept it in check with medication, Morales said.

"The prognosis is bad but we are hopeful," Morales said. "It is congenital… Anybody who cares for him and even those who don’t should say prayers for him. The family is requesting that we pray for him. We cannot underestimate the power of prayer."

Wycoco was in a morning meeting with officials at the NBI when he collapsed.

"I told the family that we would regularly monitor him but the 24th hour is the most accurate (indicator)," said neurosurgeon Gerardo Legaspi. "There is no operation that can help him."

The sudden turn of events stunned everyone in the NBI, officials of the Department of Justice, which oversees the bureau, and Malacañang.

President Arroyo went to the hospital to visit last night. Other visitors were Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes, Philippine National Police chief Director General Arturo Lomibao and Metro Manila police chief Director Vidal Querol.

Many NBI officials and personnel also paid a visit.

Bureau officials and staff were shocked because Wycoco appeared to be in good health, although one official said the NBI director had been complaining of a headache for about a week.

"We were really taken aback. It was the first time that he collapsed," said NBI spokesman Ricardo Diaz, who also heads the bureau’s Interpol division.

"He was a very healthy person, athletic and played golf regularly. He had a very positive outlook in everything. He went to work every day," Diaz added.

Wycoco’s secretary, Clarisse Gonzalez, said she was not sure if stress or the workload was to blame. Wycoco attended a Senate hearing on the NBI’s budget last Monday and was in meetings the whole day Tuesday.

Officials said Wycoco reported for work at 10 a.m. and went on to preside at a meeting with Court of Appeals Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe, NBI assistant regional director Elfren Meneses of the bureau’s anti-fraud and computer crimes division, and Wycoco’s brother, Superintendent Edgar Wycoco, who heads the Manila Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

The meeting ended a half hour later.

"He was even in a jolly mood. He stood up to get tokens for his guests, such as a calling card or an NBI pin, when he suddenly fell backward to the floor," Diaz said.

Meneses immediately told Gonzalez to call the NBI resident doctor. Wycoco was then taken to nearby MDH by ambulance around 11 a.m.

Meneses was not sure whether Wycoco’s head hit the floor when he fell.

Wycoco was first brought to the hospital’s emergency room and then taken to an intensive care unit when doctors learned that his condition was serious.

Meneses said the earlier meeting had gone well and that the discussion was light. There was no indication that there was something wrong with Wycoco.

"We were just talking about a simple case which was being followed up by a complainant. The discussions were over and we were about to leave when he paused," he recalled, and then Wycoco collapsed. "We sensed something was wrong so we immediately brought him to the hospital."

NBI officials who trooped to the hospital declined to give any comments to the media.

"I could not say if he was conscious or unconscious but he was breathing normally," said Diaz.

"What we need is a miracle," said one official, who declined to be identified.

Presidential political adviser Gabriel Claudio said Mrs. Arroyo and other officials were stunned by the news.

"We were all surprised. Our prayers are with him," Claudio said.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said the country needed someone like Wycoco in the NBI, and that he hoped Wycoco would survive. "He is too young to go."

An aneurysm forms like a balloon when a blood vessel wall is weak and could become fatal if it bursts.

Aneurysms may be treated with medication. An aneurysm often goes undetected because it shows no symptoms unless it is pressed against something.

Legaspi said Wycoco suffered hemorrhaging in the brain. A blocked blood vessel leading to the brain caused the aneurysm to rupture.

Blood carries oxygen to the brain and Wycoco was deprived of oxygen during the four minutes he spent on the ambulance to the hospital, Legaspi explained.

His heart was still and Wycoco’s blood pressure was zero by the time he reached the emergency room.

He was revived but his blood pressure shot up, prompting the doctors to administer medicine to bring it down. "His blood pressure is stable but his heart rate is still fast and we want it slower with medication," said Legaspi.

Wycoco celebrated his 59th birthday only last Nov. 10.

If Wycoco doesn’t make it he would be the fourth NBI director to die on the job since Antonio Aragon, the NBI chief during the administration of Fidel Ramos, died in the mid-1990s.

Santiago Toledo and Federico Opinion, who both headed the bureau during the Joseph Estrada administration, died in 1999 and 2000, respectively.

Wycoco was appointed to the NBI on Jan. 23, 2001, shortly after Mrs. Arroyo took over the presidency from Estrada, who was toppled by a military-backed popular uprising that month. — With Aurea Calica, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Jose Rodel Clapano