'GMA slept soundly on first night'

MANILA, Philippines - Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo “slept soundly” on her first night Friday at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) where a court had her transferred from the high-end St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) while awaiting trial for electoral sabotage, her husband Jose Miguel said yesterday.

“She’s calm and strong despite all these because she has a clear conscience,” Mr. Arroyo told The STAR in a phone interview, referring to what he considered the government’s harsh treatment of his wife.

The former first gentleman spent the night with his wife in the hospital’s refurbished presidential suite. Two others - her personal doctor and a helper - also stayed behind when the couple’s sons Dato and Mikey and the former president’s lawyers left.

Dato said she saw his mother settling down in her room. He jestingly remarked seeing no rats in her suite, contrary to Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s warning.

Pasay City Regional Trial Court Judge Jesus Mupas ordered Arroyo’s arrest last Nov. 18, a few hours after her indictment for electoral sabotage in connection with alleged systematic cheating in the 2007 senatorial elections.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a staunch critic of Arroyo’s, praised the former first gentleman for opting to stay with his wife at the government hospital.

“Setting aside all their sins against our countrymen, that’s one Filipino virtue worth praising,” Lacson said.

But for Sen. Francis Pangilinan, it’s not for Mr. Arroyo to decide if he wants to stay at his wife’s bedside. “He has to seek permission from the court,” he said.

Despite her VIP accommodation, Arroyo is not allowed to use mobile phones, laptops, television or radios in her suite.

“(Interior Secretary Jesse) Robredo even disallowed our request to be allowed to attend daily Masses at a nearby chapel inside VMMC. That’s already violating freedom of religion. It’s for security reasons daw kuno (purportedly),” Mr. Arroyo said.

“They don’t allow even an iPad or (mobile) telephone for her,” he said. He claimed he was not even allowed to bring his telephone to her suite.

At the time of the interview, Mr. Arroyo was outside the VMMC in Quezon City conferring with his lawyers.

“How could they do that when she is just under custodial detention? She is still presumed innocent. We will go to court with these (restrictions),” he added.

He said he is verifying reports that Malacañang is also planning to ban him from staying with his wife in her suite.

Mr. Arroyo said visiting hours have been set at 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Leaders of the House of Representatives have appealed to the court to allow her to use her mobile phone and laptop so she can perform her duties as Pampanga congresswoman.

One of Arroyo’s lawyers, Jay Flaminiano, said they are questioning the court’s ban on mobile phones and laptops and are still batting for house arrest for the former leader.

“We still have our pending motions (for house arrest) before the court,” Flaminiano said.

“It would be difficult for her to perform her functions as congresswoman without her laptop and cellular phone,” the lawyer said over the phone.

Flaminiano said his client was “very calm” upon her arrival at VMMC. “She had light snacks with her family,” he said.

“Also there were Dato, Congressman Mikey, their wives and her apos (grandchildren),” Flaminiano said.

“When she got there, she met with officials. She met with Gen. Lina Sarmiento of the PSPG (Police Security Protection Group)... She also met briefly with her lawyers,” he said.

A police source said cellular phones and other electronic devices of visitors would have to be deposited with police guards before entering the presidential suite.

“Everything that goes in will have to be inspected and checked,” the source said. 

Prosecutors want Arroyo detained in a cell prepared by the Southern Police District. Malacañang earlier said it would not contest a hospital arrest for Arroyo, provided it’s a government hospital.

GMA ‘stable’

Also yesterday, VMMC director Dr. Nona Legaspi said the former president was in stable medical condition a day after her transfer from SLMC in Taguig City.

Legaspi said Arroyo’s doctors at VMMC would be providing her with her usual medications for her troublesome spine, including antibiotics.

Legaspi said the physicians who would attend to Arroyo are Dr. Victoria Javier, a specialist on infectious disease, and Dr. Martha Nucum, for emergency medicine. She said VMMC would not issue any medical bulletin without a court order.

After hours of bickering between authorities and the Arroyo camp over how she should be transported to VMMC, the former president finally left SLMC at 3:20 p.m. Friday in a heavily guarded convoy and reached VMMC some 45 minutes later.

Contrary to Mr. Arroyo’s rant about visiting restrictions, a source said immediate members of her family are allowed to visit her anytime and even bring food.

This was reportedly agreed upon after a protocol meeting between the police and lawyers of the former president.

“The immediate family members and her lawyers can visit there any time,” said the source who declined to be named.

Legaspi said the Pampanga lawmaker would be given the usual hospital food. She assured the former president and her loved ones that food served at the VMMC is safe.

The Arroyo camp had requested for a personal chef for the lawmaker, citing an alleged plot to assassinate her by poisoning. Although the request has been turned down, the bringing of food by visitors has been allowed. “Just like in any other hospital, visitors could bring in food for the patient,” the source said.

“The only thing not allowed is the preparation of food inside the suite. They cannot cook there,” the source said, adding that food delivered would still be subject to checks.

‘Air cover or air travel?’

Preparations to have Arroyo moved from SLMC to VMMC had taken longer than expected because of alleged miscommunication over the terms “air travel” and “air cover.”

The Arroyo camp had expected an air cover for the convoy that was to take her to VMMC. Authorities, however, claimed that it was air travel that they had agreed upon.

“We had no idea of the air travel. What we were expecting was an air cover that would provide security to the land convoy,” Arroyo lawyer Ferdinand Topacio told reporters in a news forum yesterday.

He said the former president was already up at 4:30 a.m. Friday awaiting her trip by land to VMMC. He said they were surprised when told that a PNP air ambulance was to fly her to VMMC escorted by combat helicopters.

The Arroyo camp rejected air travel, citing bad weather. Topacio also said Arroyo dreads helicopter rides because of her two harrowing experiences of near crashes in the past.

Eventually, authorities relented because of continuous rain, which forced the cancellation of some commercial flights. 

Arroyo spokesperson Ma. Elena Bautista-Horn, for her part, lashed out at Robredo for accusing her of lying about the travel arrangements for the lawmaker.

Horn said despite an earlier agreement to have Arroyo transferred to VMMC by land, she learned in news reports that Robredo had issued orders to airlift Arroyo from SLMC.

“I did not and will never lie,” Horn said, adding that no high government official was at SLMC until afternoon.

“I can relate to the plight of the Hong Kong hostages. They risked their lives while ours was just a matter of transfer. No one was in charge, no one was deciding, no one was calling the shots,” she said, referring to the hostage tragedy in Manila last year.

Horn also said they may ask the court to allow Arroyo to spend Christmas and New Year at home. “We want her back in fighting form when she faces these charges,” she said.

Memoirs

Arroyo, 64, said her hospital confinement would have been an opportunity to finish her memoir or at least work on it uninterrupted had it not been for a court ban on her use of a laptop.

In an interview with GMA News TV on Thursday or a day before her transfer to the VMMC, Arroyo said her memoir is tentatively titled “Another Stone for the Edifice.”

The book is intended as a sequel to the memoirs of her father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, “A Stone for the Edifice.”

Arroyo said she does her writing in the evenings and has finished about 40 pages of the manuscript.

“I thought of the title,” she said. She said the title of her father’s book was inspired by a famous quote from national hero Dr. Jose Rizal: “It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal. It is like a stone wasted on the field without becoming a part of any edifice.”

Arroyo said she needs a laptop so she would not have to use a typewriter to complete her memoirs.

The former leader maintained that she has a clear conscience and slammed President Aquino for demonizing her. “Of course if I look bad, he will look good,” she said.

Her lawyer-spokesman Raul Lambino said that with the former president under hospital arrest, they would now be able to focus on proving her innocence. - With Marvin Sy, Perseus Echeminada