LUBAO, Pampanga, Philippines – After getting an assurance from doctors that she can leave her ailing husband’s bedside and despite having just three more months before the end of her term on June 30, President Arroyo has decided to push through with her scheduled foreign trips this month.
Mrs. Arroyo is scheduled to leave on Thursday to attend the two-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.
She is also scheduled to participate in the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington that was called by US President Barack Obama on April 12 to 13.
This will be followed by an official visit to Spain from April 15 to 16.
“The doctors gave me the go-signal for the trips but I’m cutting down Spain by one day,” she told reporters after having breakfast here with local leaders and Cabinet members following a thanksgiving Mass for her 63rd birthday at the San Agustin Church.
“He (Mr. Arroyo) is fine, and I am grateful for everybody’s prayers… the thing is, the First Gentleman cannot go with me (on my foreign trips),” she said.
From Hanoi, she would return to Manila before leaving the country again for Washington and Spain, she said.
First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo was rushed to the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City last March 25 after complaining of back pains that doctors later found out were due to a new tear in his aorta that had been surgically repaired three years ago.
The President cancelled all her public engagements as a result and set up office at the SLMC until the Holy Week. Her visit to her hometown to attend the birthday Mass was the first time she was known to have left the hospital.
Officials said Mrs. Arroyo would be in Madrid to receive the Premio Internacional Don Quijote de la Mancha award for promoting the Spanish language and culture in the Philippines.
She will receive the award during her bilateral meeting with King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia on April 15.