Detained Gloria Arroyo spends birthday with many friends 

(Updated 7:54 p.m.) Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo celebrated her 67th birthday with more than 50 guests at the Veteran's Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City on Saturday.

Arroyo's birthday  wish is to be allowed to post bail and to be acquitted in the plunder case she is facing, a report on GMA's “24-Oras” aired on Saturday said.

“Malakas naman kasi ang kanyang pananampalataya sa Panginoong Diyos at umaasa siya na lahat nitong mga kaso na nakabinbin laban sa kanya ay matatapos agad,” lawyer Raul Lambino, Arroyo's spokesman, said.



The former president's guests–who were approved by the Philippine National Police–consisted of family, friends and political allies, including her former Cabinet members.

Among them were former Agriculture secretary Arthur Yap, former Labor secretary Marianito Roque and former congressman Prospero Pichay.

Arroyo's husband, Mike Arroyo gave a dozen roses as a gift while her lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, brought in a lechon buwaya which stole the show.

This event marks her third birthday celebration in the medical institution since she was placed under hospital arrest in 2012.

Although Arroyo's petition for a furlough to celebrate her birthday in her hometown in Lubao, Pampanga was junked by the Sandiganbayan, the court allowed extended visiting hours on April 4 and 6.

Members of her extended family were also allowed to sleep over during the weekend.

Meanwhile, her former office, Malacañang, wished her the best through Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. 

“We want to greet her a happy birthday, and we hope that she will be happy celebrating it, along with her loved ones,” Coloma said during a press briefing.

Arroyo, who is suffering from recurrent dysphagia or problems in swallowing, is under hospital arrest over plunder charges.

She was first placed under hospital arrest in late 2011 over a separate electoral sabotage case.? — Andrei Medina/JDS, GMA News