I have seen up close how these high-pressure jobs brought down Presidents literally to their knees and fell ill at some points in time during their administrations. Being sick while in office were also experienced by former Presidents Corazon "Cory" Aquino, Fidel "FVR" Ramos, and Joseph Estrada. Not even the strongman, the late President Ferdinand Marcos was spared from the health hazards of this job he held on for almost 20 years. He contracted lupus, a rare but deadly disease.
President Arroyo’s being rushed to the hospital late Thursday night was nothing to the panic we’ve experienced as Palace reporters during the time FVR had an emergency carotid surgery in December 1996. Nobody had any idea, not even the family and personal doctors of FVR suspected that the very robust and health-conscious but workaholic President had a carotid block that could have been fatal to him.
It was a pre-Christmas party of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) when FVR and his wife, former First Lady Amelita Ramos arrived late at night. PSG commander Gen.Jose Calimlim was alarmed when FVR slumped at the sofa instead of sitting at the presidential chair. Calimlim sensed there was something terribly wrong with the President and asked him how he felt. FVR admitted he wasn’t feeling well but would not want the people to panic if they rush him to the hospital in wailing ambulance sirens. Assured by Calimlim he would be taken in civilian vehicles, FVR agreed to be taken to the Makati Medical Center (MMC) where his personal physician, Raul Fores was already alerted about his condition.
There was no senior Cabinet member with them at the MMC and the only high-ranking official with FVR during those crucial hours was Calimlim. To his credit, Calimlim practically held on together the life of the presidency. He immediately called up then Executive Secretary Ruben Torres and Estrada who was the Vice President of Ramos to proceed to MMC for an emergency meeting.
Calimlim vividly recalled Estrada was visibly disturbed about the prospects of the Vice President’s succeeding FVR on a worse case scenario.
Fortunately for FVR, Dr.Jorge Garcia, a world-renowned US-based Filipino heart surgeon was here in the country for his annual Christmas vacation and doing medical mission for the MMC. Garcia led the team who successfully removed the carotid block from FVR’s neck after more than five hours of surgery. I distinctly remember we had to spend Christmas day at the MMC canteen where Dr.Fores gave regular medical bulletins to the press. FVR had a very quick recovery and he later hosted a post-Christmas party with Palace reporters in January that year, and he even showed to us the carotid contained in a vial given to him for souvenir cum reminder to slow down.
Former President Aquino also had episodes of being sick during her term in office at the Palace. She suffered a serious case of acute meniere’s syndrome. It is a disorder of the ear that is marked by recurrent attacks of dizziness, deafness and often accompanied by nausea and vomiting. But it was not debilitating enough to make her late vice president Salvador Laurel to even think of succeeding her for even awhile. Mrs.Aquino also had at one time suffered a serious case of twisted ankle that kept her in cast for quite sometime.
During his shortened term at the Palace, Estrada himself had an emergency eye surgery. Clandestinely, American knee surgeon Dr.Christopher Jordan made several secret visits at the Palace to treat the bum knees of Estrada. Known for his heavy liquor intakes, Estrada’s worst detractors believed he might not live to finish his six-year term. But it was an EDSA-2 People Power Revolution in January 2001 that actually cut short his stay in office and Mrs.Arroyo, who was then vice president, succeeded him.
I can personally attest that Arroyo is in the pink of health. At 59 , she has a mean stamina that carries her on 24/7 job. Despite keeping a loaded presidential schedule every day, the President finds time for aerobics.
One time, I decided, out of curiosity, to accept Mrs. Arroyo’s long-standing invitation to Palace female reporters to join her aerobics session. That day, she had already gone around Metro Manila for some official activities. She was still packing with so much energy when she arrived for an hour of aerobics session. She was in front of me doing the workout. I was feeling a bit dizzy and seemingly out of breathe but I was psyching myself up that I could do it and keep up with her pace who is much older than I. Half-way through the aerobics, I nearly passed out on sheer exhaustion. Had I not stopped to get myself some air, I would have collapsed.
Health Secretary Dr. Francisco Duque explained that the viral diarrhea which downed the President a few days back was largely more stress-related than mis-eating something that upset her stomach. Duque pointed out persons exposed to very stressful activities are more prone to even the slightest common viral infection and communicable diseases. He concurred with the diagnosis of the battery of attending physicians who examined Mrs.Arroyo at St.Luke’s Hospital that her reduced resistance made her immune system vulnerable to infection.
After a 35-hour rest at the hospital, doctors gave the President a clean bill of health to proceed with her state visits to Spain and Italy. She left yesterday and on to her usual backbreaking activities. While there was no rush to make Vice President Noli de Castro to cut short his official trip to Canada when the President fell ill, De Castro returned to Manila early Saturday morning as head of government while Mrs.Arroyo is out of the country for the next eight days.
So you see, Presidents are also human after all. They can get sick, or even get into some kind of accidents, not to mention assassinations, physical, and emotional discomforts because of the demands of the job.
This is especially true in the case of President Arroyo. After she survived the first impeachment proceedings last year, the President must steel herself for yet another new impeachment case filed today immediately following the lapse of the one-year immunity period from this political malady.