AFTER nine years of visiting, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo skipped her annual Holy Week visit to Baguio City for her family.
The President has been visiting the city for the past nine years for Cabinet meetings and the Holy Week.
Press Secretary Crispolo Icban said the President begged off the Baguio trip because she focuses on the recovery of First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo who recently fell ill.
The city is usually in high alert for the President and her entourage every time she visits churches and various parts of the region checking on government projects during Holy Week.
Meanwhile, a thanksgiving mass was offered for the President’s birthday Monday, and for the speedy recovery of her husband, Icban said.
The mass was also for the first death anniversary of the late press undersecretary Jose Capadocia; Undersecretary for presidential appointments Malou Frostrum; Assistant Secretary Perlita Bandayanon; Brigadier General Carlos Clet and four other people who perished last year in the mountains of the Cordillera when their chopper crashed.
Last year, Arroyo was scheduled to inspect the Banaue portion of the 45-kilometer Bontoc to Banaue section of the Halsema Highway. Capadocia and his team were the advance party of the President when the accident, which claimed their lives, happened.
The President did not proceed to the area as scheduled after the mishap. (Maria Elena Catajan)