Dr. Juliet Cervantes said Arroyo was allowed to return to Manila after recuperating at a Quezon City hospital, where he was taken after suffering abdominal pains while flying to Peru with the president Friday, ABS-CBN News said Saturday.

"The impression was an acute infectious diarrhea related probably to the food intake that he had prior to the flight accompanied with an acid related disease," Cervantes said of Friday's mid-flight incident.

Dr. Romeo Carino dismissed reports that Arroyo had suffered a heart attack during the flight, which was diverted for an emergency landing in Japan.

"We have to reemphasize -- there was no heart attack, it's common diarrhea," Carino said.

The BBC said Arroyo underwent heart surgery last year, which helped prompt the rumors.

The state-run Chinese news agency Xinhua said with her husband safe and secure in the capital, Macapagal-Arroyo moved forward with travel plans to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru.