Belmonte to allow Gloria Arroyo to seek treatment abroad

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. is willing to allow former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to seek medical help abroad despite her inclusion on the Immigration watch list. Belmonte clarified that the travel authority to three countries he earlier gave Mrs. Arroyo, who is suffering from a rare ailment, had already lapsed, but added that he is ready to give her new ones. “I am ready to amend [the travel authorities] any time if necessary," he said at a press briefing Thursday. He added the Mrs. Arroyo’s spokesperson, Elena Bautista-Horn, has already expressed intention to seek from his office a new permit for Mrs. Arroyo to go abroad with a nurse. “They just want to be sure that if they need to go, they can go," Belmonte said. Bautista-Horn said Wednesday that Mrs. Arroyo is suffering from a previously diagnosed disease called hypoparathyroidism, a condition which causes the body to produce low levels of calcium. Travel authority In a travel authority signed by Belmonte last September 15, Mrs. Arroyo was allowed to go to the United States, Germany and Switzerland to attend two meetings and “for medical consultation." The duration of the foreign trips stipulated in the travel authority was from September 18 to October 11, which already lapsed. Belmonte said he already told Bautista-Horn to express in writing if it is necessary to change the dates in the travel authority. He added that he thinks Mrs. Arroyo will not flee from the cases filed against her, while urging her to face the controversies. “I’m confident that she is coming back, because the moment that she does not come back, that means she’s guilty," he said. Mrs. Arroyo is currently on the Immigration watch list in connection with the string of plunder charges filed against her for her alleged abuses during her nine-year rule. Her camp had repeatedly denied the accusations. — KBK, GMA News