‘Election fever’ downs GMA

Election fever is making the rounds of those vying for the presidency in 2004.

President Arroyo, who has been nursing a severe cold over the last few days, has had to cut back on her provincial sorties because she developed a fever to compound her coughing and sore throat.

Presidential aspirant and actor Fernando Poe Jr. earlier came down with the flu, the reason given for his absence from the presidential debate of the Philippine Business Council at the Manila Hotel Sunday.

The President’s flu-like symptoms have slowed her down and she spent yesterday resting at the Palace with no official activities on her schedule.

Mrs. Arroyo, who usually delivers four speeches a day, has cut back on speeches during her public appearances since Tuesday.

Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chairman Michael Defensor said that the President, though sick for the last four days, still conducted her normal activities and discharged her official duties.

"She has actually been sick for the past four days now and she has been, in fact, taking antibiotics," Defensor, the President’s campaign spokesman, said.

"We’re giving (her) time to rest but, because of her sense of duty, she still attends to her duties," he told Palace reporters.

A known "workaholic," the President has been in the care of the doctors of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) who have been administering her medication, Defensor said.

Mrs. Arroyo developed a cold last week during a trip to Dumaguete City, where she and her entourage were caught in the rain.

Despite having a bad cold, the President flew to Davao City Monday, where she wore a scarf and apparently started taking medication for her sore throat.

"We are now trying to limit her physical duties, like this traveling all around the country because it’s really taking a toll on her health," Defensor said.

"We’re making her (campaign) schedules a little lighter because we recognize the weather factor, as (was shown by) what happened to us in Dumaguete," he said.