The First Gentleman (FG) Mike Arroyo became emotional at the Bagong Doktor Para Sa Bayan" program of the FG Foundation Inc. on June 15. It was not because his days as the FG are almost over but because he saw in a video presentation the product of his efforts to help the poor, reports News on Q.
The program doubled as the launch of two coffee table books, one of which is The First. In one of the books' chapters, Arroyo said he "set the record straight on all the malicious allegations hurled against [him]," reports Inquirer.net.
He added, "The last nine years, I think it was very unfair the way GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) was treated. Her achievements were not highlighted. People don't know about her achievements, and yet the country did not go [into] any recession. The country did well, but people don't seem to know that."
Regarding President-Elect Noynoy Aquino's campaign promise to investigate the Arroyo administration controversies, Arroyo said according to News on Q, "Let him investigate. What will come out there is nothing. There's nothing that [GMA] did that's bad."
He added, "[Aquino] should unite the country instead of dividing it. We are trying our best to unite the country. Maybe he thinks he's still the president of the opposition. He forgot that he will be the president of all the Filipinos already."
Arroyo told reporters he wouldn't miss Malacaang. "We are happy to leave Malacaang," he said in an Inquirer.net report. Their family has been living in their La Vista Subdivision home in Quezon City since they moved out on June 13. According to News on Q, GMA will move to Pampanga once she takes her congressional seat while her husband plans to take care of their grandchildren.
During what he said was his last interview with the press, Arroyo, 64, said, "In a few days, I will [undergo spinal surgery]. Please pray for me." Scheduled on June 19, the surgery is meant to "avert a tear in his aorta," Inquirer.net reports. News on Q recalled Arroyo's past surgeries, an angioplasty in 2006 and a triple heart bypass in 2007.
