This could be a scene straight out of a Christmas movie.
“Former president and current Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada said that he will most likely visit ex-President and current Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is detained at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City,” reports Jose Rodel Clapano in The Philippine Star.
The report said that in a telephone interview with the newspaper, Estrada quipped, “I’m wishing her all the best this Christmas season. I hope that she will recover from her ailment fast.”
The report then pointed out that “Arroyo replaced Estrada who was ousted as president during a popular uprising in January 2001 after he was implicated in illegal gambling.” Although the Sandiganbayan convicted Estrada of plunder in September 2007, he didn’t serve his sentence because Arroyo pardoned him in October 2007.
Arroyo, who is facing plunder charges of her own, is said to be in poor health. Her allies in Congress have even launched a bid to giver her a break from her so-called “hospital detention” so she could spend time with her family during the holidays.
Ironically, Estrada himself was also confined at the VMMC at the height of his post-ouster woes.
Screengrab from an ABS-CBN news clip
