Recently, Malacañang announced that former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is free to travel to Germany to seek medical treatment. When presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda was asked if the Palace was worried Gloria might not return after President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III vowed to file the first government case against her in November, he said that it was up to her “if she wanted to stay away.”
First of all, why did P-Noy announce that he was going to file a case against her in November, which is next month? In war – and P-Noy is at war with the Arroyos — you don’t disclose the date when you’d attack your enemy. If Gen. Dwight Eisenhower announced when D-Day would occur, Hitler would have sent all his forces to Normandy. P-Noy violated the rules of the “Art of War” by telling Gloria what his strategy was.
P-Noy may not be a student warrior of the ancient war tactician, Sun Tzu; but he should be savvy enough not to go about telling everybody his strategy. But he wouldn’t have won the presidency if he did not have the political savvy to deal with the rigor and intricacies of a presidential campaign, not to mention the cheating that has become the rule rather than the exception.
Or could it be that P-Noy has wittingly given Gloria the signal to leave the country? If so, was it out of humanitarian consideration or political accommodation… or both? But since Gloria appears to be ailing, then it can be presumed that P-Noy is allowing her to leave for the same reason – humanitarian — that the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos allowed his father, the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., who was then in prison, to go to the U.S. to seek medical treatment in 1980.
“Rare disease”
According to a news report, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo issued a statement saying that his wife’s ailment was “hypoparathyroidism.” He claimed that it was a “rare disease” but not life-threatening. However, he said, “It seems there is no expert in the Philippines who can treat her ailment.” Really?
I looked up “hypoparathyroidism” and this is what I found from the website of the University of Maryland Medical Center: “Hypoparathyroidism is a rare condition that occurs when the parathyroid glands, located in your neck, do not make enough parathyroid hormone. Parathyroid hormone helps regulate the levels of calcium and phosphorus in your blood. If you have hypoparathyroidism, your body has too little calcium and too much phosphorus. Hypoparathyroidism may be either inherited or acquired (from injury to the glands or, more rarely, from surgery on the thyroid gland).”
As for treatment, the website said: “The main treatment for hypoparathyroidism is aimed at restoring the levels of calcium in the body. If you have hypoparathyroidism, you will probably have to take calcium and vitamin D (which is required for the body to absorb calcium) supplements for the rest of your life. To treat tetany (muscle spasms), calcium will be given intravenously (IV). Your doctor may also prescribe diuretics (water pills) to prevent losing too much calcium in the urine and to reduce the amount of calcium and vitamin D needed.”
It also noted: “It is important to get regular checkups so your doctor can monitor the levels of calcium and phosphorus in your blood over time.”
Treatable
A layperson, like me, would conclude that although it is a “rare condition,” it is treatable with Calcium and Vitamin D supplements. In my opinion, this is something that the doctors at St. Luke Medical Center in Taguig City know since they were the ones who diagnosed her condition in the first place.
Calcium and Vitamin D supplements are available off the shelf in local pharmacies. Elderly people commonly use these health supplements.
So, what is actually the score on Gloria’s trip to Germany?
But, hey, she’s not only going to Germany for “medical treatment,” she’s also going to New York afterwards to attend a forum hosted by her former classmate and former U.S. President Bill Clinton! Now, if she’s really suffering from this “rare disease,” what is so important that she has to attend Clinton’s conference? And it makes one wonder if her trip to Germany was orchestrated to coincide with the New York event. If so, who were involved?
Conspiracy theory
I usually take conspiracy theories with a grain of salt. But there is one conspiracy theory that keeps crossing my mind since the May 10, 2010 presidential election. About two weeks before the election, “Aquinorroyo” started buzzing around in Manila. I ignored it and accepted the results of the elections hook, line, and sinker. “No way it could have happened,” I told my source.
But on June 3, 2010, at a “People’s Congress” convened by the Solidarity for Sovereignty at the Club Filipino, the lead convenor, Ma. Linda Olaguer-Montayre, in her opening remarks, said: “We have been told that prior to the elections the big personalities of the eco-political-media and academic elite in our country persuaded presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino to agree to an arrangement with Gloria Arroyo to forestall or obviate any further possible chaos or trouble in connection with the coming electoral exercise.”
According to Olaguer-Montayre, a large amount of money was paid on behalf of Aquino and the Liberal Party to certain personalities who were going to insure that Aquino would win the election. Translation: Aquino would not be cheated.
But what was in it for Gloria when she was not even running for president? One possible explanation could be that the “Aquinorroyo” agreement was made to guarantee that the Arroyos would not be prosecuted by the Aquino administration. And given that until now the Aquino administration has not yet filed a single case against Gloria gives some credence to the “Aquinorroyo” conspiracy theory. I find it hard to believe that P-Noy would enter into a secret agreement with the Arroyos. It simply doesn’t reflect in his character as an honest person. But yet… but yet… it seems that things are moving in that direction.
Political asylum
The question is: Would Gloria come back? Could it be that Gloria’s trip to the U.S. purportedly to attend Clinton’s conference is actually part of a plan that would allow her and Mike to seek political asylum in the United States? And once the Arroyos have applied for political asylum, they would be allowed to stay in the U.S. while their application is being processed, which could take several years.
I fervently hope that I am wrong; that the Arroyos would come back to face justice. But should they decide to live in exile, it would be wretched punishment for them — wandering in the wilderness of shame.
At the end of the day, Gloria might find a way to escape from the law. But one thing for sure, she can’t escape from the Law of Karma. As someone once said, “Nothing escapes the Law of Karma. You get from the world what you give to the world.” And what has Gloria given to the world that she deserves to be given back? What goes around comes around, indeed.