Veterans medical teams ready for Arroyo's transfer

MANILA, Philippines - For the officials and employees of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), taking care of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be no big deal.

VMMC Director Nona Legaspi said the hospital’s medical teams are ready to look after Arroyo during her stay in the government-run hospital.

Legaspi noted that taking care of a former leader was nothing new, as they had done the same during the detention of former President Joseph Estrada in 2001.

“We experienced it already so another one coming is no different,” Legaspi told reporters at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters yesterday.

Legaspi attended the interagency command conference at Camp Crame over the security and safety of Arroyo.

Contrary to a costly private hospital, Legaspi said the VMMC presidential suite has no rate and occupants will only pay for the utilities to be used during confinement. The whole suite is 150 square meters.

“We discussed it with (Interior and Local Government) Secretary Jesse Robredo, there is no rate for using the presidential suite,” Legaspi added.

The Pasay City Regional Trial Court ordered the transfer of Arroyo, detained for charges of electoral sabotage, from St. Luke’s hospital in Taguig City to the VMMC along North Avenue in Quezon City.

Although the camp of the former president indicated their intention to bring their own medical team, Legaspi said they would be ready with their own doctors in any event.

“We have the capability (to take care of her medical needs) but then again if she (Arroyo) chooses and the court allows, she has her medical team,” she said.

Legaspi said the VMMC would be closely coordinating with the DILG and the PNP for security measures for the former leader.

“We are complying yet with certain requests. And then it may be ready but it depends upon the PNP,” she said.

Robredo, on the other hand, said the DILG would shoulder the costs of Arroyo’s detention at the VMMC.

Robredo stressed the issue of footing the hospitalization expenses for the former president should not be trivialized since the government is merely implementing an order from the court.

“For me… it’s an order from the court and we are following orders,” he said.

While doctors at the VMMC do not charge for professional fees, Robredo clarified the Arroyo camp must shoulder the charges of the medical team she would be bringing in to the VMMC.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes said they are not opposed to the transfer of Arroyo to the VMMC, at least while she is sick.

“It’s okay as long as it is temporary or while she is sick. When she recovers, she should be transferred to the Southern Police District… We are agreeing temporarily only,” he said.

According to Brillantes, the Comelec opted for a government-run facility since it would give them “easier access” to those attending to Arroyo, unlike in a private facility like the St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) in Taguig City.

“If she is in a private hospital, we have to subpoena (her doctors). But in a government hospital, it will be much easier for us,” he added.

Tight security

The police, on the other hand, said tight security would be implemented while Arroyo is detained at the hospital.

At the gates of the VMMC, every passing vehicle would be screened once Arroyo arrives.

And once inside, there will be control points to check on people already inside the hospital facility, said Senior Superintendent Ranier Idio, deputy director for operations of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD).

“Everybody has to pass through these control points,” Idio said in an interview.

“It (presidential suite) will be restricted,” Idio stressed.

Idio noted the claims of the Arroyo camp regarding a plot to assassinate the former president while in detention.

Earlier this week, Arroyo’s spokesperson, Elena Bautista-Horn, bared what she said was information she got about an alleged government plot to assassinate Arroyo. This was denied by the Aquino administration.

Idio said composite police teams would be surrounding the hospital premises.

There will be a team from the QCPD’s bomb squad, another from its Civil Disturbance Management group and one from its Traffic Enforcement Unit to be permanently posted at the hospital, he said.

Preparations are ongoing to refurbish the facility where Estrada stayed from 2001 to 2003 while he was facing plunder charges.

“Once the repairs are done, it (facility) will be turned over to us and paneling of the facility will automatically start” Idio said.

“There will be police personnel posted there 24/7,” Idio said.

Following the command conference in Camp Crame yesterday, composite teams from the QCPD headed by Chief Superintendent George Regis, the PNP-Highway Patrol Group, the Police Security Protection Group (PSPG) and the Metro Manila police’s Regional Public Safety Battalion will work together to secure Arroyo’s transfer to and stay at VMMC.

Idio said the PSPG would serve as Arroyo’s close-in security. The HPG, on the other hand, will man the routes leading to the hospital while the QCPD will guard the hospital premises. The RPSB will serve as backup.

Arroyo would be confined in the 150-square meter presidential suite located at the back of the VMMC compound, a few minutes’ drive from the hospital gate along North Avenue. Estrada last occupied the facility.

The hospital’s presidential suite is practically secluded from the hospital’s main premises and about three-to five-minute drive from the hospital’s gate on North Avenue in Quezon City.

After years of vacancy since 2003 following Estrada’s transfer to his resthouse in Tanay, Rizal, the facility is now awaiting Arroyo. – With Reinir Padua, Sheila Crisostomo