Barring any serious medical condition of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will push ahead with her visits to three countries starting next week.

Press Secretary Cris Icban Jr. said there has been no word so far that the President has cancelled her upcoming visits to Vietnam, United States, and Spain, which he claimed are vital to enhancing the country’s bilateral and trade relations.

“If nothing serious will happen (to First Gentleman), the President will push through with her foreign trips,” Icban said in a phone interview.

The President is scheduled to leave for Hanoi, Vietnam on April 8 for the two-day summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), her last appearance at the regional assembly.

From April 12 to 13, the President will join dozens of world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, to discuss measures on nuclear security in summit in Washington DC. Icban could not confirm if President Arroyo would have a brief chat with Obama at the sidelines of the security summit at the US capital.

From the US, the President will travel to Madrid from April 16 and 17 for a meeting with King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia.

The President has scrapped her public engagements, including her campaign for congresswoman in Pampanga’s second district, and stayed with her husband at St. Luke’s hospital in Taguig City where he was confined since March 25.

The First Gentleman earlier complained of back pains which his doctors diagnosed as “redissection of the thoracic aorta” similar to the condition he suffered in April, 2007. His health condition has reportedly improved.

Mrs. Arroyo has established a remote office at the hospital so she could continue her duties as President while waiting for the full recovery of her husband.

Last year, the President was heavily criticized for her frequent and costly foreign visits, including expensive dinners, while Filipinos continued to live in poverty and hunger.

But Palace officials defended that the President’s foreign travels have advanced RP relations with other countries on trade and security as well as helped save lives of several Filipinos in death row abroad.

Since 2001, the President has flown out of the country 77 times, mostly visiting the United States and China, becoming the country’s most travelled leader.