As we go to press, the plane carrying DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo and three companions, the two pilots and his aide-de-camp, Capt. Jun Abrazado, has yet to be found after almost 24 hours. We are told that Abrazado was able to get out of the twin engine Piper Seneca turbo prop plane and rescued by some fishermen as the plane was going down and was able to get assistance from residents in the area and the police and the local government. Despite his injuries, he insisted in joining the rescue teams which scoured the area to pinpoint exactly where the plane crashed. That he survived gives us hope that Robredo and the plane’s two pilots were actually rescued by some fishermen as one unconfirmed report advised and are safe somewhere near the crash site.  We join the nation in praying for the three of them and hope that somehow things will clear up in the next few hours.

Speaking of rescues, we urge P-Noy and his advisers after they get back from Masbate overseeing the activities of the operations center involved in the coordinated search effort for DILG Secretary Robredo and his companions to take a second, hard look at their earlier decision to bar former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from leaving for medical treatment abroad. After months in detention and definitely suffering as evidenced by her physical appearance and her doctors’ prognosis, there must be a way by which the administration can finally agree to such a proposition. And that time to make such a real, honest-to-goodness humanitarian gesture is now. Not later, especially since GMA’s attending physician, Dr. Robert Anastacio, has actually made the case for such a treatment.
At a press conference last Friday, Dr. Anastacio revealed that far from improving the former President’s condition is getting worse. The doctor said that surgery is needed abroad to correct the shifting titanium plates implanted in the bone of her neck. He said that Rep. GMA’s condition has become “progressive and aggressive” and any further non-treatment may lead to sudden death.
The shifting, Anastacio revealed, is causing “...protrusions that block her air and food pathways which could lead to disturbance in blood circulation and which could lead to cardiac arrest and sudden death.” In the attending physician’s considered opinion, that treatment including review of her previous treatments and the post operation recuperation after can only be rendered by a team of specialists used to handling “repetitive reconstruction” which is currently not available in the country. He recommended treatment either in the US or in Europe.
Dr. Anastacio, a known surgeon in his own right, should know whereof he speaks. After all, he has been the former president’s physician for sometime and has definitely seen and monitored her condition since she underwent several operations precisely to correct her spinal and neck condition many months back. Unlike this Dr. Leo Olarte, Philippine Medical Association (PMA) Vice-President and who styles himself as an expert orthopedic surgeon who has been giving all kinds of analyses on GMA’s condition based on what “he has seen on TV of the x-rays and scans.”
If this blabbermouth is really a surgeon and a professional as he claims he is, he does not show it. In fact, his repeated and unabashed criticisms of GMA’s team of physicians and their own assessment of what is best for their patient is considered a “no-no” in the world of physicians. It is truly unbecoming and leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Imagine he even dared to advise that even as the titanium plates have actually moved and by all accounts can really be dangerous, he continues to insist that “there is still an adequate diameter in her esophagus and trachea” and proceeds to expound that “the complications from the shifted plates could not be that substantial or Arroyo would not have been discharged at all.” He even had the gall to admonish Anastacio’s medical advice on surgery for the cervical spine, smirking that he is a cardiologist not an orthopedic surgeon even as two radiologic technologists of the Makati Medical Center signed on the papers together with Anastacio attesting to GMA’s condition and need for treatment.  This guy must really be desperately looking for a job in the Aquino administration for him to go out of his way and risk being condemned for such an unprofessional conduct.
But no matter. It is clear from the records that GMA’s condition is not really improving. Her cases remain pending in the courts and for now she is presumed innocent of the charges thrown at her. If, as PSPCD Secretary Ricky Carandang insists, Malacañang will refer her medical situation to a third party before they can make any kind of decision on whether to let her go abroad or not then they should not waste time doing that. Whether they believe GMA’s doctors or now they should know that time is of the essence in any kind of “life threatening” situations such as this. Perhaps they can suspend their deep antipathy and distrust of her and let the specialists in. As Dr. Anastacio said, what she needs are not only specialists in cervical surgery or orthopaedic surgeons but those who are used to handling “repetitive reconstruction” and the proper support system to handle GMA’s delicate condition. The specialists’ advice but more importantly a compassionate heart is what the situation requires now. Sooner rather than later.