Mike A to critics: Move forward, stop this nonsense

Let bygones be bygones.

This was First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo’s appeal to his critics, especially journalists still pursuing a class suit against him even after he withdrew libel charges against them following his recovery from heart surgery.

“They should forgive. We should look forward and stop this nonsense,” he said.

In his first interview four months after he underwent a triple-bypass operation and aneurysmectomy at the St. Luke’s Medical Center, Mr. Arroyo said those who continue to malign him should move on and forgive.

“(Their refusal) to drop the class suit shows that they have not forgiven me yet. Some of them in the civil suit, I have never sued them but they sued me. I don’t know why,” he told reporters when he attended the induction of the new officers and recognition night of the Rotary Club of Cubao West at Camp Aguinaldo Friday night.

After his discharge from the hospital, Mr. Arroyo dropped all libel charges he filed against several journalists, upon the advice of his surgeon, Dr. Rommel Cariño.

“Dr. Cariño said that I should take off stress, so I dropped the libel cases,” he quipped.

In his speech, he paid tribute to Cariño, saying he immediately accepted the invitation to attend the ceremony because he could not say no to the man who saved his life.

Mr. Arroyo, for the first time, discussed his near-death experience.

“I almost fainted from pain... good thing, I followed my wife to see doctors and stop being foolhardy. That’s why you must always listen to your wife,” he said.

He added that it was only after his operation that he realized the seriousness of his condition.

“My wife was crying, my children were crying. They thought I would be in a coma or dead, then a miracle happened... Cariño was the one who went there in five minutes and did the operation. I woke up 10 hours later. The first face (I saw) was Cariño’s, who was trying to tell me, ‘You’re ok,’” Mr. Arroyo recalled.

Mr. Arroyo also announced that he would donate P1 million for a project initiated by Cariño to help patients suffering from dissecting aortic aneurysm.

He said this would be funded by the First Gentleman Foundation, with donations from private benefactors.

He said the foundation is also currently building a recovery center in Laguna for victims of stroke, acute rheumatism and arthritis.