Transferring CGMA From St. Luke’s to VMMC
Around 4:10 p.m., December 9, 2011, Friday, Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was transferred from St. Luke’s Hospital Taguig to VMMC or Veterans Memorial Medical Center, a government-owned hospital, to spend her hospital arrest.From St. Luke’s Hospital Taguig to VMMCAccording to current events in Philippines, Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was seen smiling, though silent, when she arrived in VMMC after her transfer from St. Luke’s Hospital in Taguig.Arroyo alighted from the white coaster that took her from her luxury suite in St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City, walked to a waiting wheelchair, and passed through a metal detector on her way to her quarters.”She was smiling but she did not say a word when she entered the room and looked around,” Dr. Nona Legaspi, the VMMC director, told the Inquirer by telephone. Legaspi said Arroyo, who is under arrest for alleged electoral sabotage, was accompanied by her husband and sons to the suite.Though many expected that doctors would hand-over Arroyo’s medical records to VMMC, it was the doctors from the Philippine National Police that turned over Arroyo’s medical records to VMMC records. According to Dr. Nona Legaspi, apart from the hospital management and PNP officials, Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista was there to meet the former President and now Pampanga representative.
Outside the hospital, Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado “Dato” Arroyo, the former President’s younger son, said his mother would now be able to rest. He said his mother had been ready as early as 6 a.m. to leave St. Luke’s but that some confusion arose on the method of transfer.Disagreements about the Mode of TransportationA disagreement over whether Arroyo would be flown or driven to VMMC took about nine hours to resolve, with Arroyo’s lawyers and representatives playing hardball with authorities.”Besides, who would want to fly in this weather?” said Ferdinand Topacio, lawyer of Arroyo’s husband, as rain poured outside the state-of-the-art St. Luke’s.In addition to that, according to Philippines Current Events, there were also disagreements about which land transportation would take the former president from St. Luke’s Hospital in Taguig to VMMC on Quezon City. The police suggested in using a medical ambulance, but Arroyo’s camp had suggested to using an armored vehicle to transport her. For more information visit to our site at