Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Opposition wants Arroyo's real health condition bared
MANILA -- She may have escaped all destabilization efforts, calls and pressures for her to step down, including impeachment, but will she be able to escape sickness, which could eventually lead her out of Malacañang?
Members of the opposition posed this question as they urged Malacañang to come up with a public disclosure as to the true state of health of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
House Minority Leader Francis Escudero said the Palace should come out with the actual health condition of the President to dispel speculations that Arroyo has a lingering illness that is life threatening.
At his regular press conference, Escudero cited a provision in the 1987 Constitution that requires the government to inform the public of the state of health of the President.
By doing so, according to Escudero, it would do the President a favor as this would simply dismiss persistent rumors that she is seriously ill and might be used as a reason for her to vacate her position.
Article 7, Section 12 of the 1987 Constitution provides that "in case of serious illness of the President, the public shall be informed of the state of (her) health."
"The Constitution speaks that she (President) is duty bound to inform the public (about her medical condition)," Escudero said.
Arroyo could simply inform the Congress about her true health status through writing, or through a majority of her Cabinet members, Escudero said.
There were rumors that the President has a health problem more serious than diarrhea and flu, which were the reasons why she was brought to the hospital twice in the past two months.
Escudero said he himself was wondering why the President was rushed to St. Luke's Medical Center for minor ailments twice the past two months when such could be treated even while she is in Malacañang.
"It must be something more than that. We (Congress) should be informed, pati na rin ang taumbayan (including the people)," Escudero told reporters.
The minority leader also said that an immediate disclosure of the President's health might prevent a repeat of what had happened during the time of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos when the public learned about his illness only after he was ousted in 1986.
Arroyo was first brought to St. Luke's Medical Center in Quezon City last June 22 due to diarrhea. Her attending physicians found she had acute infectious diarrhea.
A little over a month after, she was brought to the same hospital again and her doctors said she had flu.
The President's main attending physician, Dr. Juliet Cervantes, is a gastroenterologist with sub-specialty in liver ailments.
Meanwhile, house majority leader Prospero Nograles dismissed speculations that the President had something more than flu and diarrhea and the issue over her health condition can never be used as a reason by the opposition for her to vacate her position.
"Doctors have issued to public a medical bulletin, she is healthy and good until her term expires," he added. (DBP/Sunnex)
(August 1, 2006 issue)
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