GMA receives festive welcome at Palace after hospital confinement

President Arroyo left the hospital and received a festive welcome upon her return to Malacañang yesterday following her recovery from acute diarrhea that forced her to reschedule her planned trip to Europe, officials said.

Mrs. Arroyo, 59, was rushed to St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon city late Thursday suffering from acute infectious diarrhea and was given fluids to recover, her doctors said.

She was cleared to leave the hospital Friday, but her family wanted her to rest for another day, they said.

"She is back to attending to the affairs of government," Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said yesterday. "We are very happy that she is feeling much better, she is looking much better. I think she deserves that kind of a rest once in a while."

Arthur Yap, head of the Presidential Management Staff, said Mrs. Arroyo will continue to rest at the Palace before leaving for the Vatican and Spain today. Mrs. Arroyo had originally been scheduled to leave late yesterday.

"Right now until her takeoff tomorrow, she will be resting," Yap said.

Mrs. Arroyo, however, went ahead yesterday with her scheduled signing of the law abolishing the death penalty.

Duque earlier attributed her illness to her busy work schedule and excessive stress, which he said had worn down her resistance to infection.

Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said Mrs. Arroyo had even asked him upon her return why most of her schedule for yesterday had been cleared, saying she was well enough to work.

"Why did you cancel my schedule? What will be my schedule after the signing (of the bill abolishing the death penalty)?" Defensor quoted Mrs. Arroyo as asking him. "I just told her it was the advice of the doctor that the day before she travels she has to rest… and I also told her that if she gets sick, the more serious the repercussions will be for the country."

"The President has fully recovered, back to her usual self," St. Luke’s Medical director Dr. Joven Cuanang said in a medical bulletin late Friday. "She can travel anytime."

"I’m feeling fine," Mrs. Arroyo told journalists at her hospital suite Friday, sitting on her bed with a laptop computer and drafts of speeches she was to give during her European trip.

"The people have nothing to worry about. The doctors gave the President a clean bill of health."

Mrs. Arroyo was at a restaurant Thursday with her husband, Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo, when she complained of a "bum stomach," according to Duque.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Mrs. Arroyo had been at a restaurant in Quezon City for an early birthday party for the First Gentleman when she complained of stomach pain. Mr. Arroyo’s birthday is next week, but Mrs. Arroyo was scheduled to leave Saturday night for a trip to Italy, the Vatican and Spain.

At the hospital Saturday, Mrs. Arroyo, wearing a light-green dress, shook hands with well-wishers in the lobby before getting into a private SUV with her husband.

Arroyo supporters displayed banners saying "Get well soon" on the road to Malacañang, and military bands played as her convoy entered the Palace grounds.

Metro Manila police chief Director Vidal Querol said he has lowered the full alert he declared when Arroyo was taken to the hospital, which was meant as a "stabilizing factor... to deliver the message that there’s no cause for alarm."

San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito, a son of deposed President Joseph Estrada and a political arch-nemesis, earlier aired suspicion that Mrs. Arroyo’s hospital stay was a "political gimmick" to improve her public image.

Mrs. Arroyo’s husband dismissed the younger Estrada’s comments. "We will not stoop to their level," he said.

Lawyer Jesus Santos, his spokesman, said the mayor’s statement showed Ejercito’s "true color."

"Besides, we’re not actors. It’s his father and brother (Sen. Jinggoy Estrada) who are the actors," he said.

Estrada was ousted in 2001 by a military-backed popular uprising following allegations of massive corruption. He is currently on trial for allegedly running an illegal gambling protection racket during his aborted presidency and amassing millions of pesos from payoffs.

Malacañang officials earlier quashed rumors that the Mrs. Arroyo may have suffered a more serious illness and that some extreme and violent elements in the opposition are set to take advantage of the situation. — With AP