Ex-President Arroyo is ‘physically okay,’ VMMC director says

Former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's health remains okay while under hospital arrest, the director of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) said Tuesday.

“[Mrs. Arroyo] is okay… She is physically all right,” Dr. Nona Legazpi told lawmakers at the budget briefing of the Department of National Defense (DND) in the House of Representatives. The VMMC, located in Quezon City, is an attached agency under the DND.

 

When asked by Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares to elaborate on Mrs. Arroyo’s condition, Legazpi said the former Philippine leader is able to walk around the hospital premises.

 

Mrs. Arroyo has been under hospital arrest at the VMMC since October 2012. She is facing plunder charges for allegedly conspiring to fraudulently divert P366 million in confidential Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office intelligence funds supposedly "for personal gain" from 2008 to 2010.

The former Philippine leader is also facing electoral sabotage charges in connection with the 2007 elections. In July 2012, a Pasay court allowed her to post a P1-million bail regarding this electoral sabotage case.  

 

Legazpi said her evaluation of the former President’s health is limited to the physical aspect since VMMC doctors do not have the authority to assess her psychological well-being.

 

“I cannot say [anything about Mrs. Arroyo] psychologically because we don’t have the authority to evaluate that aspect. We need to get the patient’s consent,” she said. — Xianne Arcangel/RSJ, GMA News