GMA returns to VMMC for physical therapy

MANILA, Philippines - Two days after she was released on P1-million bail, former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo returned to the Veterans’ Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City yesterday morning to undergo physical therapy.

Arroyo arrived in a three-vehicle convoy that included an ambulance and two sports utility vehicles at around 11 a.m. at the VMMC.

She left the hospital past noon and proceeded to the second district of Pampanga to meet her constituents in Lubao and Porac towns.

The 65-year-old Arroyo checked in early Thursday at the Green and Young Wellness Center in San Jose, Tagaytay City to attend an alternative healing session with Antonia Park.

The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) yesterday advised the former president not to stop her “principal” treatment protocol while undergoing alternative treatment.

PMA Governor for Manila Leo Olarte said that alternative treatment should only be “complementary” to Arroyo’s principal treatment. Otherwise, he cautioned, the former president’s condition may worsen.

“Alternative medicine is not recognized by doctors as a form of treatment, mainstay or principal treatment of an illness or a disease. I don’t think she should abandon her principal treatment,” he noted.

Department of Health (DOH) Assistant Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial, on the other hand, refused to comment on the alternative treatment being undergone by Arroyo.

Ubial, however, maintained that there are “certain modalities of alternative treatment medicine” sanctioned by the DOH.

One of these is acupuncture, which Arroyo was reportedly undergoing in a wellness center in Tagaytay that is owned by Park, an oncologist who specializes in herbal medicine.

Arroyo stayed overnight in Tagaytay and drove to Metro Manila early yesterday.

The former President visited the grave of her father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani in Taguig City.

She said she was “very happy to be with my parents even just in spirit.” She prayed for a few minutes at the Libingan’s adoration chapel then proceeded to VMMC for her regular therapy.

Nona Legaspi, VMMC director, said physical therapy usually involves many modalities that produce heat to alleviate pain.

Legaspi said the therapy also includes exercises to strengthen muscles and to improve range of motion and a little massage to loosen up tensed muscles.

She said the former president would have physical therapy sessions at the government hospital thrice a week.

Before her release on Wednesday, Arroyo spent eight months under “hospital arrest” at the VMMC after she was charged at the Pasay City regional trial court (RTC) with electoral sabotage in connection with the alleged rigging of the senatorial elections in Maguindanao in 2007.

She was detained at the VMMC where she received treatment for her ailments since December last year on orders of the court.

Electoral sabotage is supposed to be a non-bailable offense but Pasay City Judge Jesus Mupas granted Arroyo’s petition for bail after the evidence so far presented against her was deemed “weak.”

Arroyo posted P1-million bail and was released last Wednesday from the VMMC. She returned to her house at the La Vista subdivision in Quezon City.

The former president arrived in Porac at about 2 p.m. wearing a blue dress and her neck brace.

She was greeted by supporters who repeatedly chanted “GMA, GMA.”

She shook hands with her constituents and then gave a brief message thanking them for their support and believing in her.

GMA to seek re-election

Arroyo’s spokesperson Elena Bautista-Horn said the former President would seek re-election in next year’s local elections even as she continues to battle attempts to put her back in detention and seek treatment for the degenerative disease afflicting her spine.

“Her desire to serve and to do more for Pampanga and to make up for lost time was the reason why (she chose to seek re-election),” Horn said.

Her scheduled physical therapy sessions at the VMMC were supposed to be for Monday and would continue four days a week.

“She (Arroyo) is in fact a candidate for another surgery but after three traumatic surgeries she isn’t physically and emotionally ready for another surgery, that’s why they (VMMC doctors) prescribed conservative treatment first in the form of intensive physical therapy,” Horn said.

She said doctors advised her to keep wearing her neck brace, especially while traveling, not to speak much, and to limit her land travel to two hours.

She said Arroyo was restless at the Green and Young Wellness Center run by Park “because she kept thinking she still has a lot to do for her constituents.”

“She said that it is her sworn duty as an elected lawmaker to make up for her absence while in detention. She really insisted on returning to see her constituents and she asked her children to allow her to go because this was her life and she would not get well if she was away,” Horn said.

She said according to Arroyo, she no longer minds the criticisms and political attacks against her as long as she can work.

“Of course, her constituents were eagerly waiting for her,” she said. – With Paolo Romero, Ding Cervantes