Heart Ailment Sends Marcos to Hawaii Hospital

Former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos was in guarded condition Friday after suffering what apparently was congestive heart failure.

Marcos, 71, was taken by ambulance to St. Francis Hospital upon the recommendation of his physician, Calvin Wong, spokesman Gemmo Trinidad said.

Preliminary findings indicated that Marcos had suffered congestive heart failure and an arrhythmia, or irregularity in the heartbeat, hospital spokeswoman Norma Kop said.

Wong said Marcos did not have a heart attack. Congestive heart failure means the heart is unable to pump the amount of blood required by the body.

Marcos, who was deposed in 1986 and is now under indictment in the United States, was resting comfortably and was able to eat, Kop said. His wife, Imelda, was with him, she added.

“Mrs. Marcos is very worried,” spokesman Trinidad said. “She’s in tears; she’s always in tears.”

According to Trinidad, Marcos began having chest pains about 4 a.m., after learning that his pregnant daughter, Imee Manotoc, who lives in Morocco, was having medical problems and would have to deliver by Cesarean section, Trinidad said.

The former president is expected to be in the hospital for a couple of days, according to Kop.

A New York cardiologist has told a federal judge in New York that although Marcos has various health problems, he is well enough to travel to New York for arraignment on fraud charges. The arraignment had been postponed after Marcos’ doctors said he was too ill to travel.