Former President and current Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has tested positive for COVID-19 and will be unable to attend President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.
According to a statement released by Arroyo’s chief of staff, the congresswoman tested positive in an antigen test on July 15 and went into quarantine.
Her doctor Dr. Martha Nucum said Arroyo “has been religiously taking the prescribed medicines and supplements required of a COVID-19 patient.”
A follow-up RT-PCR test on July 22 still returned a positive result.
Three days before her first positive result, Arroyo met with former president Rodrigo Duterte in Davao City.
Meanwhile, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo along with some other Supreme Court associate justices will attend the SONA Monday.
The top magistrate said he and the other justices who will be attending Monday’s SONA will comply with the requirements for COVID-19 testing before the event.
The Office of the President had earlier said that President Marcos’s SONA will begin at around 4 p.m.
The House of Representatives, meanwhile, has launched a website dedicated to all relevant information and updates on preparations for the SONA.
In other developments:
• The Commission on Human Rights on Sunday reminded state forces to protect and facilitate the right to peaceful protest in the same manner that it endeavors to ensure peace and order. It also reminded protest groups to comply with the requirements to stage a demonstration, including a written permit unless the event is held in a freedom park, a private property, or the campus of a government-owned educational institution.
• Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte has ordered the early dismissal of city hall employees at noon Monday ahead of the SONA. The order does not cover essential services, however, including law enforcement, traffic management, fire protection, health and rescue, and disaster response.
• The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority on Sunday announced it is ready for the SONA. All assigned personnel are required to report to their designated post as early as 6 a.m. They are tasked to manage both vehicular and pedestrian traffic, respond to emergencies, clear roads, and assist in crowd control. The MMDA also deployed 1,133 personnel from the Traffic Discipline Office, Road Emergency Group, Sidewalk Clearing Operations Group, Flood Control, and Metrobase along Commonwealth Avenue and other roads leading to and within the vicinity of the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City. Ambulances, tow trucks, fire trucks, mobile patrol units, motorcycle units, and other resources will also be deployed at designated routes and staging areas.