GMA to rest for 3 weeks

MANILA, Philippines - Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would rest for three weeks as advised by her doctors, a close ally said yesterday.

Candaba, Pampanga Mayor Jerry Pelayo said Arroyo had been advised to take a full rest and lie low.

Pelayo, who said he is a close family friend of the Arroyos, appealed to critics to allow the former president as well as her husband to recover from their medical treatment.

Pelayo said the publicity generated by the series of allegations against the Arroyos could affect their health conditions.

“Let the investigation proceed but we appeal for a ceasefire to stop issuing statements regarding the pending cases,” Pelayo told a news forum.

At the same time, Pelayo also disputed allegations of former President Joseph Estrada that the Arroyos were “malingering” or feigning sickness in the attempt to avoid answering the allegations against them.

He said the trip of Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo to Hong Kong was urgent and he had to leave for immediate medical treatment.

“The former President did not (even) know about the trip because she was (also) undergoing medical treatment at that time,” Pelayo said.

Estrada called on the Arroyo couple to stop feigning sickness and face the charges on their alleged involvement in cheating in the 2004 and 2007 elections.

Estrada said the principal players in the election cheating in 2004 and 2007 must be punished.

Former Malaysian deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim joined his friend Estrada in a breakfast at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan.

Ibrahim supported Estrada’s call, saying he was convinced by the evidence that cheating had occurred in the past elections.

Estrada, for his part, said the Arroyos are suffering from the sickness of corruption.

He said a special court was created to rush his conviction during the term of Arroyo while the prosecution against them appeared to be moving at a snail’s pace.

“The special court was created and designed to convict me,” he said.

For his part, Anwar said corruption in the Philippines is tamer compared to Malaysia.

Anwar said the allegations against Mike Arroyo was that he sold his two second-hand helicopters as brand new to the police was nothing compared to Malaysia.

“In the Philippines, you are talking about two helicopters. In Malaysia, we are talking about the anomalous purchase of a submarine. Malaysia’s judicial system is dysfunctional and the media remains not free unlike here in the Philippines where there is freedom of the media,” Anwar said. – With Jose Rodel Clapano