There's a lot of speculation on the "real" reason for the sudden return of First Gentleman (?FG?) Mike Arroyo who had joined the presidential party on the way to the Apec meeting last month in Lima, Peru.

If you will remember, the chartered Philippine Airlines flight carrying President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her traveling companions turned back and landed in Osaka, Japan, six hours after leaving Manila. Ostensibly, the reason was that the FG was ailing and was feared to have suffered a heart attack. Mike Arroyo's doctors were flown in by private jet from Manila, but after looking into his condition, he was deemed fit enough to fly back home. His condition was later diagnosed as "diarrhea."

Several questions have been brought up. One, didn't the doctor with the presidential party on board the plane not know the difference between a heart attack and an upset stomach? Two, why didn't the plane simply proceed to Hawaii or the other US territories in the Pacific that were nearer, if indeed emergency medical attention was needed? Three, why has no satisfactory explanation been given, considering the extra expense to the taxpayer and the public embarrassment it caused?

Early speculations centered on the filing of the latest (and yet junked again) impeachment complaint against the President. The FG had to fly home, it is said, to oversee the handing out of cash incentives to House members to ensure the complaint was defeated. But the filing of the complaint wasn't exactly a surprise, and if bribery was part of the plan, then Mike Arroyo shouldn't have joined the party in the first place.

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Other purported reasons have since surfaced. The most prominent is aired by columnist Lito Banayo, quoting an unnamed (perhaps fictitious?) friend, who speculates that the presidential party must have been alerted that the FG faced arrest in the US for alleged money laundering activities. They thus needed an excuse to keep the FG out of harm's way, or at least away from US authorities, and came up with the "heart attack" story, making sure he never set foot on American territory.

Another version has it that the Arroyo family is barred from entering the US on corruption charges. The President was allowed to enter as a head of state attending a UN meeting, but no such protection was extended to her spouse.

I have no way of knowing whether one, all or no theory is true, but I believe that in a more robust democracy, with politicians of greater grit, the mystery of the FG's sudden return should have been thoroughly investigated, instead of being swept under the rug as it is now.

But the speculations alone, and the fact that so many are willing to believe them, prove that the Arroyo administration has lost all credibility. People are willing to believe most anything said against the President and her family. It was telling that when Mike Arroyo was brought home by private jet, almost nobody believed he was seriously ill and speculated that there was another reason for his interrupted flight. "We're so mean!" another columnist remarked with mock dismay.

Of course, with Manny Pacquiao's return, it is almost certain that we will once more forget about the FG's costly bout with diarrhea. But let's wait and see if the FG and his wife will ever be able to visit the US again.

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Last Monday, Oscar Lopez, chairman of the Lopez group of companies, was conferred the title of "Eminent Person" among the board of the Forum for Family Planning and Development.

Lopez is the fifth such "eminent person" on the Forum's board, after former president Fidel V. Ramos, former Prime Minister Cesar Virata, businessman and philanthropist Washington SyCip, and internationally renowned demographer Mercedes Concepcion. The Forum is an NGO devoted to advocacy for family planning, particularly in influencing policy-shaping on this issue.

In his remarks, Lopez declared that "even as we are gathered here today, there are many serious challenges being faced by our movement," citing the "well-organized challenge" mounted by religious groups against the pending bill on reproductive health, among others. The Lopez group chairman also noted that "it is not enough to just depend on government to accomplish the ideal population growth rate." The private sector also has an important role to play, he said, adding that within the Lopez group they "promote family planning ... [and are] starting to show some progress in this regard and our effort is positively received by our employees as a sign of management's regard for their welfare."

Citing surveys that show public opinion support for reproductive health programs, particularly family planning, Lopez urged his audience to "do everything in our power to make sure that (the people) get what they want and need to have the family size they can properly provide for."

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Indeed, as former president Fidel Ramos said in his "words of inspiration" that afternoon, "the changing but fundamental reality of today's world is that it is quality that determines quantity. If this nation is to be developed and modernized, Filipino families must all endeavor to produce and nurture quality children and not incapable humans who become burdens to themselves and to society."

At the individual, family and national levels, family planning makes sense, and this is a fact already obvious to and embraced by the majority of Filipinos. But some of our political and religious leaders seem oblivious to reality and instead choose to impose their own sense of morality and judgment on others. Groups like the Forum have their work cut out for them to make such folks wake up and smell the consequences of overpopulation.