Gloria Arroyo Tests Positive for COVID, to Skip SONA

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will skip the first State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. as she tested positive for COVID-19, her office said Sunday.

The 75-year-old former chief executive tested positive in an antigen test last July 15 and immediately underwent self-quarantine, according to Arroyo's chief of staff Erwin Khrisna Santos.

Arroyo has been taking the prescribed medicines and supplements for COVID-19 patients, according to her personal physician Martha Nucum.An RT-PCR test on Saturday, July 22, showed that the former president was still positive for COVID-19.

Arroyo was one of the key personalities in Marcos' presidential campaign, and also a supporter of then-Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte's vice presidential bid.

She was reelected as the representative of the second district of Pampanga in the May 9 elections after taking a three-year break from politics in 2019, when she stepped down as House Speaker.

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