Former first lady Imelda Marcos skipped the promulgation of the guilty verdict against her by the Sandiganbayan because according to her, she is suffering from “multiple organ infirmities.”
In her motion asking for a leave of court to avail post-conviction remedies, Marcos, 89, said she is suffering from “multiple organ infirmities” and was “under strict orders from her physician to refrain from stressful conditions that will put her at risk for heart and brain attack and recurrence of seizure.”
The Ilocos Norte representative was responding to the Sandiganbayan’s order to explain her absence.
Marcos attached to her pleading a medical certificate from St. Luke’s Medical Center neurologist Dr. Joven Cuanang that dated November 12.
Dr. Cuanang said he “coordinates” Marcos’s medical care with nurses and doctors, whom he identified in the medical certificate, for the seven conditions the lawmaker is suffering from.
According to the neurologist, these infirmities are Diabetes Mellitus Type 2, Hypertension and Atherosclerotic Cardio Vascular Disease, Status Mini Strokes, Moderately Severe Sensorineural Hearing Loss, Chronic Recurrent Urinary Tract Infection, Chronic Recurrent Gastritis and Multiple Colon Polyps, and Recurrent Respiratory Tract Infection.
He added that Marcos is also taking “many supplements to improve her immune system.”
“For these multiple organ infirmities, she is under period surveillance in cooperation with her nurses to keep her on optimal health at her age,” Dr. Cuanang said.
The Sandiganyaban Fifth Division earlier found Marcos guilty beyond reasonable doubt of seven counts of graft due to her “financial interests and participation in the management of private foundations in Switzerland” while holding a government position during her late husband’s term, former President Ferdinand Marcos.
She was sentenced to imprisonment from six years and one month up to 11 years for each count of graft, and that she is also perpetually disqualified from holding any public office.
The anti-graft court also forfeited the bail bonds that Marcos earlier posted due to her absence in the promulgation of her cases.
In the pleading, her camp said Marcos’s non-appearance was neither “intentional nor meant to disrespect this Honorable Court but was solely because she was indisposed.”
Senatorial candidate and former Bayan Muna party-list Representative Neri Colmenares, however, did not buy Mrs. Marcos’s explanation.
“The former First Lady seems to have forgotten that on this same Friday when she failed to appear at the Sandiganbayan, she had the energy to go to a party, smile for the cameras, and socialize,” Colmenares said.
The photos of Marcos on the evening of her conviction, he said, did not show the image of an old woman who is ill.
“If you are well enough to party, you are well enough to show up at the Sandiganbayan to face the law,” he added.
The Sandiganbayan has earlier deferred the release of an arrest warrant against Marcos because of the motion she filed on Monday but was only released to the media on Thursday.
The anti-graft court is set to hear the motion on Friday, November 16.
[READ: Sandiganbayan clarifies: Arrest warrant for Imelda Marcos deferred]
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