Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

MANILA (AP) -  Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's husband returned to Manila on Saturday, a day after he fell ill on board her plane with severe abdominal pain, forcing an emergency landing in Japan, his doctors said.

The president was flying to Peru on Friday to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit when doctors traveling with her recommended that the plane be diverted to Japan because of concerns that her husband's illness might be related to previous heart problems, Dr. Juliet Cervantes said.

Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo also was vomiting and had several bouts of diarrhea, she said.

The president's plane landed at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan, where her husband was rushed to a hospital and examined by Japanese doctors.

There was no significant finding linking the abdominal pain to his heart condition, leading doctors to conclude that he was probably suffering from acute infectious diarrhea from food he ate prior to the flight, Cervantes said.

She said she and two other doctors who treated Arroyo for heart problems last year flew to Japan early Saturday to help assess his condition.

"I am happy to announce to everybody that the heart and vascular system of the first gentleman are in good condition," heart surgeon Dr. Rommel Carino said. "There was no heart attack."

They later decided to bring him back to Manila on a private plane and took him to the hospital where he underwent triple bypass surgery and another operation to repair his damaged aorta in April last year.

Cervantes said he will remain in the hospital for one or two days to rest.

President Arroyo proceeded with her trip to Peru, she said.

ABS-CBN television showed Arroyo's husband _ conscious and appearing to be reading or sending text messages on his cell phone _ on a stretcher being lowered from the plane.

Arroyo's husband, an attorney from a prominent family, has no official powers but is regarded as an influential back-room operator and is a vocal backer of his wife against political rivals.

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