'An abscess was removed (from her breast), and something was put in its place,' he said while stressing that during her most recent hospitalisation, Arroyo did not get her old implants replaced.

Remonde also insisted that Arroyo's main reason for checking in at the Asian Hospital was for self-quarantine in accordance with the swine-flu advisory by the department of health.

He added that while undergoing self-quarantine, Arroyo took the opportunity to undergo biopsies for lumps in her breast and groin.

'She was given a clean bill of health because the results of the biopsies done on her breast and her groin were all negative,' he said.

Remonde's failed cover-up was reminiscent of what happened in 2005 when then-press secretary Ignacio Bunye dismissed as part of a destabilisation plot the release to the public of wiretapped conversations between Arroyo and a senior elections commissioner allegedly about rigging the 2004 presidential vote.

Bunye said the conversations did not happen and even alleged that the leaked recording was fabricated.

But as more details about the alleged conversations became available to the media, Arroyo addressed the nation on national television and apologised for talking to the elections commissioner while votes were still being counted.

She, however, never admitted that she connived to cheat in the 2004 elections.

Another incident that showed Arroyo's double talk was when she told the public in 2003 that she would not seek election in 2004, only to take it back months later when she filed her candidacy.

She was also less candid about her involvement in a scrapped $329 million broadband deal between the Chinese firm ZTE and the government.

At first, Arroyo belittled allegations that she and her husband benefited from the ZTE deal as mere politicking on the part of the opposition. But the president was forced to scrap the deal as witnesses came out to link her and her husband to multimillion-dollar kickbacks from the agreement.

Critics warned that the boob job cover-up was expected to only worsen the public's perception of Arroyo, considered the most distrusted leader the country ever has, according to public opinion surveys.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel said that while the issue should have been kept private, Arroyo's aides mishandled the controversy, making a mountain out of a mole hill.

'We have fake elections, we have a fake president, now we have fake boobs,' he said. 'It's fake all over.'