MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice finally rejected yesterday former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s request to seek medical treatment abroad for a rare bone disorder, dismissing calls for compassion and citing “real risk” of her not returning as promised to face a host of criminal charges including election fraud and plunder.
“I am not convinced of any exceptional reason, circumstance or justification for us to grant request. There is no immediate and compelling necessity for the former president to seek treatment abroad as attested to by (Health) Secretary Enrique Ona and even cited in abstract from her doctors themselves,” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima told a press conference. “The interest of the state certainly weighs more that her right to travel.”
De Lima said the decision had the approval of President Aquino whom she had met at the Palace for about an hour before the press briefing at the DOJ.
Former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo downplayed the DOJ ruling and said they had already filed a petition with the Supreme Court contesting the watchlist order on his wife.
De Lima said that while the operation performed on Arroyo for her hypoparathyroidism was life-threatening – as confirmed by Ona – the Pampanga lawmaker has been “recuperating fairly well because of treatment of local doctors and use of local facilities.”
De Lima also said she was not convinced of Arroyo’s promise to return for the preliminary investigation into poll fraud charges against her.
“There are no existing extradition treaties (in their countries of destination). There lies a real risk there and that’s something I can’t afford at this point,” she explained.
She cited as basis for her suspicion the “ambivalence” on the part of Arroyo regarding her itinerary.
PNoy-approved
Secretary De Lima admitted seeking President Aquino’s approval as a matter of courtesy and in consideration of the issue’s significance.
Asked if the decision may be considered a political one, she replied: “It may be political. One thing’s for sure, it’s more than medical or legal. It may be combination of all, but what’s important is that it will serve the ends of justice.”
De Lima also clarified that her decision “doesn’t foreclose” future issuance of allow departure order (ADO) or compliance with “an order of a court” favorable to Arroyo. But she stressed the DOJ has the power to issue a watchlist order on Arroyo pursuant to Department Circular No. 41. Without a temporary restraining order from the SC, De Lima said the petition has no bearing on her rejection of Arroyo’s request.
Ambivalence
De Lima said her doubts on Arroyo’s readiness to keep her promise were based on the Pampanga lawmaker’s ambivalence regarding her destinations.
The DOJ chief recalled that in the first travel authority that the House of Representatives issued last Oct. 16, Arroyo’s listed destinations were the United States, Germany and Switzerland. In the travel authority, the former president said she wanted to go to New York to attend the Clinton Global Initiative Meeting and seek medical consultation from Sept. 18 to 27. In the same travel authority, Arroyo said she also intended to go to Munich, Germany for medical consultations from Sept. 28 to Oct. 6; and then to Geneva, Switzerland to attend consultation meetings on the International Commission against Death Penalty.
In the second travel authority, which was also granted by the House leadership, the former president planned to seek medical consultations in the US, Germany, Singapore, Spain and Italy.
De Lima said that the second travel authority, which would have allowed Arroyo to travel to five countries from Oct. 22 to Dec. 5, listed her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo, an aide-de-camp and a private nurse as traveling companions.
But in a letter to the DOJ chief last Oct. 21, Arroyo mentioned only three destinations – Singapore, Germany and Austria with her spokesperson Ma. Elena Bautista-Horn in her entourage.
Unfazed
Mr. Arroyo, meanwhile, said the DOJ ruling was expected.
“It (denial of request) doesn’t matter. It’s anti climactic because the former president already filed a petition in the SC questioning the WLO for being violative of her constitutional right to travel,” the former first gentleman said in a text message to The STAR.
“That’s the real issue. (Her) sickness is why she has to travel but the issue is a person’s constitutional right to travel,” he said.
Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said even De Lima appeared to be not convinced of her own decision.
“It’s not like as if you open up a person that’s the only time you discover there’s really something wrong,” Suarez said.
Sen. Francis Escudero also balked at the DOJ’s not relying on the courts to keep Arroyo from leaving the country.
“The end does not justify the means… While I may tend to agree that there is a need to prevent the possible flight of GMA given the cases filed against her, the remedy is to petition the courts to issue an HDO and not to rely on an illegal and unconstitutional circular issued during GMA’s time,” Escudero said. “That the circular was wrong and illegal then, it’s still wrong and illegal now,” he said.
“It just seems right because it is against GMA and I for one would also want to ensure too that she is made to account for her sins… but not like this,” Escudero said.
“They are just adding to their headaches. GMA cannot afford not to come back because flight is short of admission of guilt. I agree with my party’s (NPC) stand,” Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, for his part, said. with Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez, and Delon Porcalla
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By: Edu Punay
Source: The Philippine Star, Nov. 9, 2011
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