Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo left Japan for South America on Saturday after her plane made an emergency landing the previous day because her husband fell ill while on board.

Arroyo had been en route from Manila to attend the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, but diverted to Kansai International Airport late Friday, an airport police official said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

Her husband, Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo, was rushed to a hospital, where he remains.

A senior Philippine official said three of his personal physicians flew to Japan early Saturday to assess his condition. Arroyo's husband underwent heart surgery in 2007.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Saturday on Vice President Noli de Castro's weekly radio broadcast that officials in Manila were informed that the president's husband "was not in any serious condition."

"The first gentleman has been declared out of danger," Ermita said. "It was not what was earlier suspected that it was connected to his heart operation. We were told he had intense stomach pain."

In Manila, ABS-CBN television quoted Philippine Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno as saying the president's husband suffered stomach cramps and back pains, denying media speculation that he had suffered a heart attack.

TV footage Friday showed Arroyo's husband — conscious and not appearing to be in severe pain — on a stretcher being lowered from the plane.