GMA files petition for bail

Former president and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA – Lawyers of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo filed a new petition for bail before the anti-graft court yesterday.

Arroyo’s counsel contested that being in the hospital is only worsening her condition and is even putting her life in danger.

An 11-page motion was filed by Arroyo’s lawyer, Modesto Ticman Jr. where a statement from Arroyo’s clinical psychologist, Arnulfo Lopez, who said that restricted mobility has made Arroyo’s condition even worse, was included.

“They recommend holistic approach, family support, emotional stability, and spiritual upliftment which she cannot attain while being confined in a hospital,” Ticman said.

“It is very evident that her present confinement, being a prisoner in a hospital with very limited access to a lot of social, occupational and personal activities, is giving her tremendous distress as shown in her mental status examination,” he added.

The VMMC medical team also noted that the congresswoman “has not been cured of her illness and she continues to feel the ill-effects of her previous surgeries.”

This is despite the fact that three spine surgeries were already conducted in 2011 and Arroyo was also subjected to continuous physical therapy.

“Until now, she continues to complain of moderate to severe pain in the lumbosacral area, calf area and nuchal area which is relieved temporarily by NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs),” Arroyo’s recent medical bulletin stated.

“What could be more stressful than a former president who used to be healthy performing her everyday tasks suddenly put to an almost solitary confinement as a prisoner with an existing spine disease,” Ticman said.

Lopez also added that Arroyo’s confinement has not contributed positively to the former president’s condition but has, in fact, “exacerbated the same.”