PHNO-HL: HEART PROBLEM: GMA TRANSFERRED TO VETERANS HOSPITAL ICU


HEART PROBLEM: GMA TRANSFERRED TO VETERANS HOSPITAL
ICU


[PHOTO -HEART PROBLEM. Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
is rushed to the ICU days before her scheduled arraignment today. Prosecutors
said they are amenable to postponing the arraignment of Arroyo following reports
of her latest health condition. File photo from
AFP]
MANILA, OCTOBER 15, 2012 (PHILSTAR) By Reinir Padua - Pampanga
Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was transferred yesterday to the intensive care
unit of Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City after doctors
noticed a problem in her heart.
VMMC director Nona Legaspi called the condition "ischemia" or the inadequate
flow of blood to an organ.
Legaspi said they were assuming that a blockage in the artery was causing it.
She said ischemia could lead to a heart attack if not addressed properly.
She said the ischemia could have been caused by stress. She said the former
president would need more tests to determine her real condition, following the
ECG performed on her.
"We should further investigate what's causing it but we're assuming it's a
blockage until it is proven otherwise," Legaspi said.
An ECG was performed on Arroyo last Wednesday after she complained of chest
pains.
Arroyo's "hypokalemia" or the below normal level of potassium has remained,
also prompting the ECG.
"Due to persistence of ischemia patient has been transferred to MITU (ICU)
for further monitoring. Considering the foregoing, patient is not dischargeable
at this time," Legaspi said in a medical bulletin yesterday afternoon.
It was around 3 p.m. when Arroyo was transferred to the ICU from the
hospital's presidential suite. Only one person is allowed to be with her in the
ICU.
Legaspi said policemen are still posted outside the ICU to guard the former
president, who is currently under "hospital arrest" pending the plunder case she
is facing before the Sandiganbayan.
Legaspi said they would be monitoring day-to-day Arroyo's condition to
determine if she would be fit for her scheduled court appearance on Monday for
arraignment.
Among the tests to be performed on Arroyo are the 2D-Echo and Stress 2D-Echo,
which would have to be done in another medical facility.
For these tests, her lawyers would need the court's permission to bring her
out since she is under detention at the hospital.
Legaspi said the blood samples could be taken at the VMMC but would have to
be taken out also for examination.
She said they were taking the condition seriously and immediately transferred
the former president to the ICU as "we have to act with urgency."
Siquijor Rep. Orlando Fua said the worsening condition of Arroyo showed the
"cruelty" of the Aquino administration.
Fua said President Aquino is surrounded by officials who are "do-gooders who
think they're the only saints in this world and consider everybody else as their
enemy who should be persecuted."
"I'm emphatic about this: this administration is cruel and lacks any
humanity. Now we can show the world how cruel the Aquino administration is," Fua
said.
He said Malacañang has been blocking all appeals for her to seek treatment
abroad out of spite.
"Even if her condition worsened after she is allowed to get medical treatment
or specialized treatment abroad, at least President Aquino would be seen as a
humane president," Fua said.
Postpone arraignment
Prosecutors said they are amenable to postponing the arraignment of Arroyo
following reports of her latest health condition.
"If that be the case, so be it. After all, we are prosecuting, not
persecuting," said Director Diosdado Calonge, head of the panel of government
lawyers now handling the case.
Sandiganbayan executive clerk of court and spokesman Renato Bocar said the
anti-graft court's First Division might issue an order on Monday moving the
arraignment date because of these latest developments.
Arroyo's lawyer Anacleto Diaz, apart from making an oral motion for deferment
of the arraignment during a hearing on the former president's motion for
hospital arrest on Thursday, filed a written pleading yesterday on the reason
that the accused intends to file a petition for certiorari before the Supreme
Court and not because of medical reasons.
As to the other respondents who are also scheduled to be arraigned on Monday,
Bocar said the Sandiganbayan would have to decide on the same.
Meanwhile, the Sandiganbayan First Division issued a subpoena yesterday to
VMMC director Legaspi ordering her to testify in court on Oct. 18. She was also
directed to bring Arroyo's medical documents that will prove her lawyer's claims
that she should remain under hospital arrest.
Two former officials of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) have
joined Arroyo in demanding the release of the initial preliminary investigation
resolution of the Office of the Ombudsman that allegedly cleared them of the
plunder charges in connection with the misuse of PCSO funds.
Former PCSO general manager and vice chairman Rosario Uriarte and former
board member Manuel Morato, through their lawyers, have asked the Sandiganbayan
to direct the Office of the Ombudsman to produce what is now being referred to
as the "Somido Report," which was not submitted to the anti-graft court when the
plunder case was filed last July.
The Sandiganbayan had earlier issued a warrant of arrest against Arroyo and
several others who are facing a non-bailable offense of plunder for alleged
misuse of P365.9 million in PCSO funds.
Morato is also confined at St. Luke's Medical Center in Quezon City due to a
heart ailment, while Uriarte is still at large and had reportedly slipped out of
the country.
Uriarte's legal counsels Benjamin Santos and Ray Montri Santos said at the
hearing at the Sandiganbayan First Division last Thursday on their motion for
judicial determination of probable cause that they have received information
that the "missing" resolution that was reviewed and modified by Ombudsman
Conchita Carpio-Morales was "favorable to all of the accused."
The STAR earlier reported that the original panel of prosecutors and graft
investigators of the Ombudsman that conducted the preliminary probe on the
alleged misuse of PCSO confidential and intelligence funds found no evidence to
charge the respondents with plunder.
The resolution supposedly explained why Arroyo and the rest of the
respondents might only be indicted for graft, a lesser and bailable criminal
offense under Republic Act 3019.
"The Sandiganbayan should look at the circumstances of the divergence of
opinions within the Office of the Ombudsman," said Uriarte's lawyers, citing a
Supreme Court precedent during the time of former Ombudsman Aniano Desierto in
the Cabahug case.
They said the Sandiganbayan should require the production of the so-called
Somido panel report wherein all of its members unanimously agreed that Arroyo
and the other respondents should not be charged with plunder based on the
evidence gathered during their probe.
Deputy prosecutor Cornelio Somido was co-chairman of the original preliminary
investigation panel.
"The Somido report is of value to determine probable cause," Uriarte's
lawyers stressed, at the same time accusing Ombudsman prosecutors of not seeking
the truth.
Responding to such arguments, Calonge said the issues being raised by the
respondent have already been raised before and are evidentiary in nature, which
should be addressed during trial.
Morato's lawyer Dante Diaz, however, sided with Uriarte's legal counsels and
also demanded the release of the Somido Report that would show two conflicting
decisions by the preliminary investigation panel and Ombudsman Morales "to
settle this once and for all."
Arroyo, through lawyer Diaz, was the first to ask for the production of the
"missing" resolution, which the Sandiganbayan did not rule on when it denied the
former president's separate motion for judicial determination of probable cause,
a ruling that she now plans to question before the Supreme Court.
Three accused fled the country
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) unit yesterday confirmed that
three of the 10 accused in the PCSO plunder case have already left the country.

Lawyer Claro de Castro Jr., chief of the NBI Foreign Liaison Division (FLD),
said the bureau had requested the International Police (Interpol) to include in
the Red Notice List former PCSO general manager Uriarte, and former PCSO
directors Jose Taruc V and Ma. Fatima Valdes.
The NBI Interpol Section is part of the FLD and in charge of coordinating
with Interpol offices worldwide to locate wanted persons.
Aside Arroyo, Uriarte, Morato, Taruc, and Valdes, also facing charges were
former PCSO board chairman Sergio Valencia, ex-directors Raymundo Roquero, PCSO
budget officer Benigno Aguas, former Commission on Audit (COA) chairman Reynaldo
Villar and former COA-Intelligence Fund Unit head Nilda Paras.
Valencia and Aguas are now detained at the Philippine National Police
Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
De Castro declined to give more information regarding the operation to locate
Uriarte, Taruc and Valdes.
NBI Director Nonnatus Caesar Rojas confirmed that some of the accused have
already sent surrender feelers. With Michael Punongbayan,
Paolo Romero, Sandy Araneta


Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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