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Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Arroyo's husband undergoing heart surgery
MANILA -- The husband of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was undergoing high-risk surgery late Monday for a heart problem, his physician said.
It is the latest crisis to hit the president, who has fought off coup attempts and dealt with terror attacks and natural disasters almost constantly since she took office six years ago.
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While the President's husband has no official powers, Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo has been regarded as an influential back-room operator and a vocal backer of his wife against political rivals.
Mike Arroyo, a heavyset attorney from a prominent family who underwent an angioplasty in December, reported chest pain while accompanying the president and their children to the northern city of Baguio for Easter Sunday.
Rumors quickly spread that he had suffered a stroke. Press secretary Ignacio Bunye later said doctors found his heart stable and that he had suffered from gastritis.
But when the pain persisted, the president skipped a speech she had planned to give marking an important WWII battle in Bataan province and accompanied her husband on a helicopter to St. Luke's Hospital in Manila's Quezon City district for a battery of tests.
Television footage showed Mike Arroyo in a wheelchair, looking pale and weak as he was wheeled into the hospital.
Dr. Juliet Gopez-Cervantes, Arroyo's main attending physician, said he was diagnosed with a dissecting aortic aneurysm, a tear in the body's largest artery. Surgery began at 6:30 p.m. and was expected to last eight to 10 hours, Cervantes said.
"We have to repair his aorta or his heart will be in danger," Cervantes told reporters in the hospital lobby, calling it "very high-risk surgery."
"The first family requests your prayers during this difficult time," said Cervantes.
Mike Arroyo has frequently been the target of his wife's critics.
A group of journalists filed a class-action lawsuit in December claiming a string of libel suits he filed over the last three years is aimed at muzzling the media and his critics.
During one particularly volatile period in 2005, media reports were accusing Arroyo of influence peddling and receiving illegal gambling kickbacks at the same time allegations broke that his wife had fixed the 2004 election.
He left the country for three months to ease the political pressure on the president. (AP)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Baguio. (April 10, 2007 issue)
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