eople hate hospitals for various reasons: Nosocomephobia, fear of hospitals, is one; thanatophobia, fear of dying, is another; molysmophobia, fear of infection, in particular, fear of nosocomial infection; and of course, iatrophobia, fear of doctors. Some simply hate it for the bad food, the long waits, the noisy wards, and threatening aseptic odors and ambience.

There are, however, people who seek hospitalization. Those who are truly sick—no choice. Those with possible threatening conditions that require short-term monitoring and observation. Those requiring complicated diagnostic workup and surgical intervention. Then, there are those afflicted with Munchausen's syndrome—for those unfamiliar with it, a mental disorder in which a person repeatedly feigns severe illness or exaggerates symptoms so as to obtain hospital treatment.

There is a variant Munchausen condition, a malady unique to Philippine politics—the Hospital Arrest syndrome. It differs from Munchausen syndrome in that it is not a mental disorder, but rather, an ingenious way for political detainees to upgrade their daily existence from the inconveniences of generic detention. It shares with Munchausen's syndrome the likelihood or potential for feigning and exaggerating symptoms to gain hospital admission or hospital arrest.

There are three types: (1) Political detainees who are healthy as hell but feign symptoms to gain hospital arrest privileges to escape the inconveniences of generic prison life. (2) Detainees with minor medical problems who further exaggerate their maladies to a degree that will justify hospital arrest. (3) Those with bona fide complaints that are maxed-out exaggerated and milked to ridiculous extremes to extend their hospital arrest privileges to arresto perpetua.

As in court cases where the outcome may be influenced by opposing expert medical opinions, so it is with hospital arrest requests, where the detainee's counsel pit their medical opinions against the experts called in by prosecution. Any patient can feign or exaggerate symptoms that would warrant a transfer for a temporary hospital arrest, a few days to a week or more, an R & R from prison doldrums.

Requests for hospital arrest have recently frequented the headlines. Napoles's hypertension, bleeding problems and gynecologic concerns. Enrile's petition citing age and his motley medical conditions. Senator Binay, perhaps presciently, filling a bill allowing house or hospital arrest.

It Started With Arroyo
Former President Arroyo started this trend—she has been under hospital arrest for graft, plunder and electoral sabotage charges since 2012. Boys and girls, that is a long stretch of hospital arrest, certainly drawing inspiration from politicians presently in prison or threatened by future detention.

Two years of continuous hospital arrest would suggest some chronic disabling affliction. What I see is a disconnect. The TV clips I chance on with nighttime news show her looking fairly well, walking unassisted except for occasional wheel-chaired clips, smiles, waving and all. Well, yes, she's always wearing neck brace—a great detail that should easily get sympathy points.

The media has been fairly efficient in releasing regular updates on her hospital arrest, almost always associated with some medical event, like choking on broccoli or a doctor's progress report on her medical condition. There have been other updates, all contributing to an expanding list of diagnoses: bone disease, hypoparathyroidism, diarrhea, poor appetite, depression, severe neck pain, cervical spondylosis.

A lawyer expert opined: Hospital arrest is only possible if the accused is "suffering from serious illness, as in the case of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo".

Perhaps, there was once an acute medical problem that justified hospitalization, surgical intervention, and a period of observation. But two years of hospital arrest? Her list of medical diagnoses does not justify continued hospital arrest. The conditions are manageable as an out-patient, with emergency consultations at her beck-and-call. In fact, I would also be concerned with her catching some dreadful nosocomial infection.

Enrile
While Arroyo was enjoying hospital arrest accommodations, prosecutors denied Enrile's appeal for hospital detention, saying it was tantamount to preferential treatment. The initial denial for hospital arrest spoke of a bias, medically skewed and politically odorous.

Enrile himself is much to blame, macho-ing and mouthing off on how healthy he is, stem-celled and all. When detention was imminent, his legal camp suddenly tried playing the age role in addition to a long list of medical problems.

I don't like Enrile one bit—he's high on my I-don't-like list, flanked by people I'd rather not mention. I would love to see him languish in prison, to suffer the ignominy and inconveniences of detention. However, Arroyo's hospital arrest and continuing hospital confinement lowered the bars of medical indications, while establishing precedent. And there's the rub.

Hands down, and I was going to bet the house on it, any kind of testing or comparison would have shown Enrile to have much more pathology than former president Arroyo—neck-brace-osteoporosis-broccoli-choking-depression and all. It would not be too difficult—actually, too easy—to find a qualifiable cause for hospital arrest in 90-yr old Enrile, with chronic hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive lung disease, age-related macular degeneration, and anemia.

Age risk? With such a diagnoses list, vis-a-vis Arroyo, to say that age is not a factor—90! at that—was inane. "Serious illness" as in the case of former president Arroyo? There is no more serious combination of medical problems than diabetes, coronary artery disease, hypertension, and smoking. If risk is a measure, Arroyo's list of problems would not hold a candle to Enrile's.

Enrile, however, suffers the animus of much of civil society who is jubilantly celebrating the ignominious fall of this aged political warrior, further relishing his downfall by denying him small measures of compassion that his age and many medical problems might justify.

Fortunately, Mr. Enrile didn't have to munchaussen it—he was granted hospital arrest on medical merit. And with his long and threatening list of medical problems, he will certainly qualify for arresto perpetua.

Quo vadis, Arroyo?
Back to Arroyo. Where are you going? It's up to the powers that be. And it's a confusing dilemma. Her real, imagined, or exaggerated maladies provided for the deus ex machina that once justified her hospital arrest. But no longer—it has ran out of gas.

She remains in hospital arrest not because of valid medical reasons, and not just out of compassion. Perhaps, it's a quid pro quo, or part of a more complicated political wheel and deal, or part Christian forgiveness, or perhaps, as some kind of political emollient for some guardians of civil society, satisfying and soothing their righteous needs to mete out, at least, a modicum of punishment. All that can be served by house arrest.

House arrest is the humane alternative to prison or detention time. It has long been used as an instrument of political leniency in msny countries. It is an alternative to Arroyo's present hospital arrest. It does not lessen the chages; even if found guilty, it does not lessen the crime. Except for that part of civil society intent on meting out harsher punishment, house arrest will hardly elicit a hew and cry from many others in civil society and the masa or the CDE.

The changes of corruption, plunder and electoral sabotage are so familiar and generic to our damaged culture. Corruption is our other original sin, deeply threaded in the fabric of our lives. In politics, we see corruption in its full measure.

Corruption? Sino ba ang hindi korap? Of plunder, the masa will ask: Sino ba ang hindi nagnanakaw? True, if 50 million defines plunder, you will need a constitutional amendment, raise it to 200M, retroactive, to absolve many of that crime. Electoral sabotage? The masa would laugh—they see its boondock machinations every election time. Corruption and the absence of shame. That is the sad reality of our political culture. And even if Arroyo is found guilty of charges, there are many equally guilty or more so, who roam free enjoying the fruits of the plunder they have done.

Let that sad reality infuse the powers that be with leniency to grant house arrest for the former president. For Arroyo, there are many reasons for house arrest: the danger of nosocomial infections, psychological and mental health concerns, and of course, compassion. It won't take much to convince me to join the bus on that compassion ride.