Behind PR 1 Arroyo is not always the boss

President Arroyo doesn’t always get her own way!

Manila - IT is common knowledge that President Gloria Arroyo is a tough, hands-on operator who by sheer force of personality (and conviction, of course!) always manages to get everyone around her to her way of thinking. And the long and seemingly tireless hours she puts into the job is legendary—as is her temper when anyone in her official family or presidential staff is found to be amiss in their duty.

But on a recent flight between Manila and Los Angeles, when she was en route to her state visit to Peru, President Arroyo discovered that she doesn’t always get her own way—as we too found out during a pre-Holiday Season soiree, were we happened to be seated at the dinner table with someone who had been on that flight as part of the crew.

Apparently when Presidents husband Mike Arroyo fell ill on board the aircraft a few hours out of Manila, the cockpit crew had to make a quick decision to reroute the flight to get Presidents husband on the ground so he could be dispatched speedily to hospital.

The pilot decided to turn back and head to Osaka Airport in Japan, which was within about three hours flying time. But President Arroyo insisted they fly on and land in Hawaii where her husband could receive the necessary treatment in the USA. And she could spend more time with him there while still keeping to her onward schedule.

But the Philippine Airlines pilot, being the commander-in-chief some 30,000 feet up in the air, overruled the Commander-in-Chief of the Philippines and decided to head for Osaka and land in Japan rather than the President’s preferred landing on American soil. - Manila Times