It was not just a tummy-ache

The big news yesterday and up to last night was the sudden operation on the presidential spouse being performed at the St. Luke's Hospital in Manila. The last we heard, first gentleman Mike Arroyo had been taken to the St. Louis Hospital in Baguio, where the first family was vacationing, for stomach pains. Later, reports said it was nothing but a case of gastric acids, so there was no need to worry.

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In yesterday's column, I hinted that a lot of speculations about the first gentleman's health condition could be expected to come out. And true enough, text messages flew all over the country in a huge guessing game concerning the ailment of FG. Some uncharitable texters, as shown on TV, claimed that Mike Arroyo had suffered a stroke. Others has worse claims, probably in line with the saying, "The wish is father to the thought".

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It turned out that the situation was even worse than his detractors could claim. Suddenly, the news showed the first family already in Manila, and in the St. Luke's Hospital at that. And they apparently decided to come clean and be transparent over it, because the FG's physicians openly admitted to the media that it was no ordinary tummy-ache that Mr. Arroyo had suffered from. The real story was that he had to undergo what he called dissecting Aortic Aneurysm. Which meant that he was going through a "high risk" operation that would take some eight to ten hours!

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But, obviously, before they knew what was happening, some Malacañang people were shown explaining to reporters that what Mr. Arroyo had was only some case of too much acid in his tummy. One even said it was caused by drinking of wine and eating citrus fruits. I wonder how they will take back that explanation, since the President obviously prefers to have the truth come out. Well, we hope Mr. Arroyo's operation is successful - reports said it should have been finished about 3 to 4 a.m. today.

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I noticed that the doctors, while giving out bulletins on the condition of the first gentleman, kept saying that his ailment may have been caused by stress. For sure people in the Opposition camp will ask whether it was because of Alan Peter Cayetano and the fact that he was not expelled, or sanctioned by the House of Representatives had something to do with it. He is older than Alan Peter, so his heart can only stand so much stress. Speaking of Cayetano, he seems to hold on to top places in the surveys, especially when his alleged namesake was declared a nuisance candidate. That, too, could cause stress.

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Pinoy expatriates working or residing in Hongkong also held a mock poll recently and it was still Loren Legarda who topped the voting. She got 61 percent while the runners-up, Manny Villar and Kiko Pangilinan only got 46 or somewhere there. The return of the lady to the Senate seems to be unstoppable. Maybe she still has a lot of sympathy votes from those who believe she really won in the vice-presidential race.

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At the moment, two very high profile personalities in the country are in hospitals. Aside from the first gentleman, Ilocos governor and senatorial candidate Luis "Chavit" Singson is also being treated for injuries suffered in a helicopter crash. Those who don't like Singson may quote the saying both in Spanish and Tagalog about the "masamang damo" or bad grass (weeds) don't die, but he really seems to have the proverbial nine lives.

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Meanwhile, some non-government organizations and local governments have reportedly been lobbying for some of that P1 billion that is being released to counter poverty and hunger in the country. Since this is again election time, let's all watch out so that the money for poverty will not go the way of the fertilizer fund in 2004.*

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