With nary a hint of emotion, Mrs. Arroyo said Estrada’s camp could not possibly claim her jailed predecessor refused to see her Saturday when she happened to be at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center compound in Quezon City.
"I did not ask for any appointment that I was going there and see him (Estrada)," the President pointed out. "It just so happens that the Veterans was the nearest helipad from Channel 4."
Speaking at the launch of her new weekly radio program "Ang Panawagan ng Pangulo" aired yesterday at Malacañang, Mrs. Arroyo confirmed her presence at the state-run hospital last Saturday.
"In fact, to those who were asking why I suddenly went there (at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center), I really did not go there to visit (Estrada), I went there to be picked up by the helicopter," she said.
The President and her party were flying that day to Tanauan City in Batangas for the 111th birth anniversary of the late President Jose P. Laurel at the JPL Mausoleum in Barangay Samat.
Presidential Security Group (PSG) chief Brig. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. earlier told The STAR the VMMC was the nearest helipad from the government-owned television station Channel 4, which is located on Visayas Avenue in Quezon City.
Mrs. Arroyo was accompanied to Batangas by Justice Secretary Hernando Perez, a former congressman of the province. She arrived at the hospital compound past 9 a.m. where the presidential choppers were already waiting, she said.
"They (Estrada camp) claim that I waited for one hour there (at Veterans). It was not the case though. My helicopter arrived one hour before to wait for me, but not me. I was still at the studio in Channel 4," she pointed out.
Mrs. Arroyo said she was motored all the way by the PSG from Channel 4 to the VMMC.
She said she even asked her staff who prepared her latest "infomercial" why she had to go to Channel 4 for taping when there are equipment and facilities already available at Malacañang.
"They told me this was because the lighting and sound systems were better (at Channel 4)," she said, at the same time admitting she had initially thought she was going to motor all the way to Batangas, where she had a 10 a.m. appointment.
She recalled that she had previously visited Estrada twice in the past, and both visits were prearranged.
Estrada himself told The STAR last Saturday that there was "no advance notice" that the President might drop and visit him at his suite.
In May last year, Mrs. Arroyo flew all the way to Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna where Estrada was detained to check on his living conditions shortly after the infamous riots of his supporters, known as EDSA III.
The second time was when she visited him at the VMMC after Estrada’s transfer there. She got a lot of flak from her so-called "civil society" people power 2 supporters for those visits.
Perez, however, said it was he who dropped in on Estrada last Saturday while waiting for Mrs. Arroyo to arrive from Channel 4.
The opposition Partido ng Masang Pilipino, however, said in a statement yesterday that the Palace denial of Estrada’s snub of Mrs. Arroyo was a barefaced lie.
PMP spokesman Jesus Crispin Remulla said while many hospital staff could attest that Mrs. Arroyo, with Perez, indeed attempted to visit Estrada, Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao has been insisting otherwise.
"How can a man who was not physically present that day be brave enough to dispel all these reports that Mrs. Arroyo tried to see President Estrada at VMMC when all the people in the hospital are certain that the incident happened?" Remulla said.
"You can see here how Malacañang is used to making lies to the public even with such a plain refusal of... Estrada to receive... Arroyo," he added.
Estrada had said that he was surprised with the unannounced visit that prompted him not to receive Mrs. Arroyo.
"Let’s just say I was not prepared to meet her. I didn’t know she was coming," he said.