DOJ: NO TO GMA'S MEDICAL RX ABROAD / GMA LOOKING FRAIL AMID HEALTH WOES
MANILA, NOVEMBER 9, 2011 (STAR) By Jun Pasaylo and Dennis Carcamo - Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, (photo at left) today turned down the request of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to be allowed to seek medical treatment out of the country.
"There is no compelling reason or immediate necessity for the former president to seek medical treatment abroad," announced De Lima. The announcement came after De Lima's trip to Malacañang early today.
De Lima said that her decision was based on the findings of Health Secretary Enrique Ona, who studied the medical abstract submitted by Mrs. Arroyo's doctors from St. Luke's Medical Center-Global City, Taguig.
The DOJ chief also cited the discrepancies between the documents submitted by Mrs. Arroyo's camp to the DOJ and the medical abstract issued by St. Luke's doctors, Roberto Mirasol and Mario Ver, who were both involved in the cervical spine operations of the former president August.
"There is even some discrepancy in the medical abstract as against what was indicated in the application of GMA on her supposed medical treatment," she said. "What is clear in the report of Health Secretary Ona, is that yes, what was life threatening was the operations conducted on her, but since then she has recuperated... She has been recuperating fairly well because of the treatment from local doctors, using local facilities."
De Lima's announcement was a sort of a repetition of her earlier statement last week. She had said that she needed more time to study the request of the former president.
She said that her two questions on the request of the former president were still not questioned despite her further study of travel application. The questions include: whether there was "life-threatening reason" for Mrs. Arroyo's medical treatment abroad and the possible irreversible effect on her condition if she was not allowed to consult specialists abroad.
DOJ circular
Mrs. Arroyo and her husband, former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, earlier filed petitions before the Supreme Court, asking the nullification of the watchlist order issued by De Lima against them.
The Arroyo couple also questioned the legality of DOJ Circular No. 41, which gives the secretary of justice the authority to order the inclusion of an individual in the immigration watchlist.
"Department Circular No. 41 issued by the DOJ which is not a law enacted by Congress restricts the right to travel, is, on its face, void for being in violation of the Constitution," Mrs. Arroyo, who was represented by lawyer Estelito Mendoza, said in the petition.
Arroyo's camp said that because of the alleged "inaction" of the DOJ on her request, her confirmed appointments for October 24 and 31, November 4 and 8 with doctors at the Mt. Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore have been canceled.
"The inability of petitioner GMA to leave for abroad to alleviate or at least, prevent the aggravation of her hypoparathyroidism and metabolic bone disorder has given rise to the danger that the said conditions afflicting petitioner GMA may become permanent and incurable…The matter is of extreme urgency and petitioner GMA will suffer grave injustice and irreparable injury if the enforcement and implementation of the [watchlist order] are not restrained," the petition said.
Answering the petition of the Arroyos, De Lima cited the possible dangers if the power of the DOJ secretary to issue watchlist and hold-departure orders are taken out.
She also mentioned that the circular was "the creation of the former [justice] secretary under GMA" and that it is exercised, without being petitioned, "all these years, by previous DOJ secretaries."
"You cannot imagine the dire consequence if that power is taken out," De Lima said.
'Real risk'
During the press conference, De Lima expressed fear about the absence of extradition treaties in the countries that Mrs. Arroyo wishes to seek medical treatment.
"The countries of destination itself, I cannot avoid being concerned by the fact that there are no existing extradition treaties with us. There lays a risk there, something I cannot afford to take at this point," she said.
The justice secretary also cited the "changing" and "varying" list of Mrs. Arroyo's countries of destination. She said that the list was changed at least thrice.
The latest list of countries, she said, includes Singapore, Spain and Italy, where there are no existing extradition treaties.
She cited that the list originally included three countries (United States, Germany and Switzerland), and then added with three more countries.
De Lima also said that she noticed that the dates of the travel and their purpose, which include attendance in international meetings in the US and Geneva, Switzerland, indicate that Mrs. Arroyo is recuperating very well from her illness.
"Precisely [because] she is recuperating fairly well. She was already well enough to even attend conferences.. If her condition was that bad, why go to several destinations na iba-iba rin?" she said, adding that Mrs. Arroyo's travel request was indefinite, which she said she could not allow to happen because the former president is facing several cases of plunder and electoral sabotage.
FROM MANILA STANDARD
Ex-President appears frail amid health woes by Christine F. Herrera
[Photo courtesy of Manila Standard- Rep. Gloria Arroyo today: Juliet Gopez-Cervantes, Arroyo's main attending physician, has issued a certification saying "As far as we know, there is no bone mineral disorder expert and/or metabolic bone pathologist in the Philippines." STANDARD]
THE workaholic but now frail former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo fears that her numbness, cramps, weakness, choking and limited movement will become permanent if a cure to her rare bone disease is not found.
"The numbness of my fingers and the cramps in my legs are coming back. I understand the cramps are an early symptom of hypoparathyroidism," Arroyo told the Manila Standard.
"The mineral bone disease may still be there, and I want to find out what it is and if there is a cure for it. I fear these may become permanent."
Arroyo says she has been burning the telephone lines trying to find bone experts abroad who might be able to remedy her deteriorating health.
She was supposed to have an appointment with doctors in Singapore on Monday, but the government barred her from leaving. Another set of doctors in Alecante, Spain, is supposed to examine her on Nov. 14.
"What the medical bulletin says is that there may be a rare bone disease, but without a tetracycline-labeled bone biopsy they cannot specify what the disease is," Arroyo said.
"You cannot know the cure if you do not know what is to be cured. The tetracycline-labeled biopsy protocol has not been done here.
"I may have an extremely rare metabolic bone disease, but how rare and what it is nobody will know without the tetracycline-labeled bone biopsy."
Juliet Gopez-Cervantes, Arroyo's main attending physician, has issued a certification saying "As far as we know, there is no bone mineral disorder expert and/or metabolic bone pathologist in the Philippines."
Several medical abstracts and bulletins issued by Arroyo's team of doctors at the St. Luke's Medical Center were also sent to the government as required by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who barred her from leaving.
Arroyo says she is required to sunbathe between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. for 15 to 30 minutes as part of her treatment. During these sessions, the metal in the Lerhma Minerva vest that she is required to wear burns her skin.
Still, the Minerva vest is lighter than the three-kilogram halo vest that she used to wear at all times.
As a result of her difficulty swallowing, the 64-year-old former President has lost her appetite and weight. She is now down to 46 kilograms. She has lost 10 pounds since she was discharged from hospital after her surgery.
Arroyo says she misses her active lifestyle that includes daily workouts. Now she uses her sunbathing sessions as a form of exercise by walking around the yard at noon.
She walks slowly and appears weak. Three operations on her neck have also affected her voice. Raising her voice takes a lot of effort.
Arroyo accepts one or two visitors a day who must be seated right in front of her so that she doesn't need to move her neck to see them.
She says she has asked her eldest son, Ang Galing Pinoy Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, to attend to the needs of her constituents. The son once served the Second District of Pampanga until his mother stepped down as President and ran for Congress.
Arroyo could not say whether she would run for re-election in 2013.
"My priority is to find out what ails me," she said.
----------------------------------------------------------
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
----------------------------------------------------------
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------
