Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, 60, was moved to a recovery room after about 10 hours in surgery to repair an aneurysm at the aortic arch, a portion of the artery closest to the heart, doctors at St. Luke’s Medical Center said.

“The surgery was successful,” said Dr. Juliet Gopez-Cervantes, the main attending physician. “The mere fact that he is already awake is already a remarkable achievement.”

In a separate interview with ABS-CBN television, Cervantes said there was a “high probability” that the aorta would have ruptured without quick action.

“Probably 30 minutes or more delayed (would have) really put us in a very catastrophic condition,” she said. “There is high probability that we could have lost the first gentleman.”

The lead surgeon, Dr. Rommel Carino, said he also performed a triple bypass because of the clogging of his heart arteries.

He said Arroyo may be discharged in about two weeks.

Arroyo, an attorney from a prominent family, has no official powers but is regarded as an influential back-room operator and a vocal backer of his wife against political rivals.

A group of journalists filed a class-action lawsuit against him in December, claiming that a string of libel suits he had filed over the last three years was aimed at muzzling the media and his critics.

During one particularly volatile period in 2005, media reported that he was influence-peddling and receiving illegal gambling kickbacks at the same time that allegations broke that his wife had fixed the 2004 presidential election.

He denied the allegations, but left the country for three months to ease the political pressure on the president.

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