Bishop visits Arroyo in VMMC

MANILA, Philippines - Pampanga Bishop Paciano Aniceto visited former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) on Christmas Eve. Aniceto was accompanied by a monsignor, a source said yesterday.

Aniceto was among those who supported Arroyo when she ran for congresswoman in 2010 as her term as president ended.

The embattled former president was scheduled to hear a Christmas Eve mass at 9 p.m. last night, the source said.

The source said none of Arroyo’s immediate family members had arrived there as of early afternoon yesterday.

Earlier this week, a Pasay City court hearing the electoral sabotage charges against Arroyo denied her plea for a Christmas furlough.

Arroyo had wanted to spend the holidays at home, but based on the court order, Arroyo cannot go out of the hospital premises to spend Christmas and New Year at her home in La Vista, Quezon City.

Her immediate family, however, could be with her at the VMMC presidential suite from Dec. 24 until noon of Dec. 26 and from Dec. 31 until noon of Jan. 2.

Arroyo had earlier been ordered transferred from her suite at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City to the presidential suite at the VMCC in Quezon City.