The Philippines is facing a constitutional crisis as former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo attempts to leave the country to seek medical treatment after the Supreme Court allowed her to travel despite the government’s claims that the former leader might not return to face a corruption investigation.
Amid chaotic scenes late on Tuesday, airport immigration officials defied the country’s top court and blocked Ms. Arroyo from boarding a plane to Hong Kong. Ms. Arroyo’s spokeswoman said Wednesday that the former president will try to leave again on Thursday—presenting a fresh challenge to President Benigno Aquino III’s resolve to ultimately put Ms. Arroyo on trial—but that plan was subsequently put on hold for a few days Thursday morning when the former president complained of feeling ill.
Mr. Aquino has made combating corruption the cornerstone of his administration and has vowed to chase down high-ranking government officials to ram home his message. The chief target appears to be Ms. Arroyo, and the Philippines’ Justice Department is investigating Ms. Arroyo for corruption and vote-rigging during her 2001 to 2010 presidency. Ms. Arroyo denies any wrongdoing.
Ms. Arroyo, 64 years old and now a member of the Philippines’ Congress, has repeatedly said she needs to travel overseas to seek medical treatment for a bone condition, and on Tuesday the Supreme Court allowed her and her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, to travel abroad.
Ms. Arroyo was diagnosed earlier this year with cervical spondylosis, a degenerative condition affecting cartilage and bones. In a statement last week, the Philippine Medical Association said there were many doctors in the Philippines who can treat Ms. Arroyo “competently” and there was no need for her to travel overseas for treatment.
She has undergone spinal surgery three times in recent years.
Mr. Aquino, the son of late democracy icon Corazon Aquino, appears to have other ideas. His government has described Ms. Arroyo as a flight risk, and after a crisis meeting at Manila’s presidential palace later on Tuesday, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said that the government would appeal the Supreme Court’s 8-5 decision and that it had ordered immigration officials to block Ms. Arroyo’s departure in the meantime. If the Philippines allows her to leave, “we would be the laughingstock of the world,” Ms. De Lima said.
The Aquino administration’s move potentially puts it on a collision course with the Supreme Court. The court’s spokesman, Midas Marquez, already has described the government’s actions as amounting to contempt of court. Still, the battle could prove useful for Mr. Aquino.
Some analysts say Mr. Aquino’s administration has seized on the allegations against Ms. Arroyo as a way of revitalizing his efforts to stamp out corruption in a country that Berlin-based Transparency International ranks as one of Asia’s most corrupt, and on a par with countries such as Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe. Since coming to power in a landslide election last year, Mr. Aquino and his team have helped shore up the economy, earning the country a series of credit-ratings upgrades, but a major victory against graft so far has eluded the 51-year-old leader.
Building a credible case against Ms. Arroyo, as he has vowed to do, might help Mr. Aquino build his graft-busting credentials and provide some fresh impetus for his presidency.
Ms. Arroyo is capable of making her point, too.
When she arrived at Manila’s international airport Tuesday night, Ms. Arroyo emerged from an ambulance and spent the next few hours there in a wheelchair and wearing a neck brace as her lawyers attempted to convince immigration officials to let her board a plane to Hong Kong. When permission was denied, she left again by ambulance for a nearby hospital, where aides said the former leader would be monitored for stress.
Mr. Aquino’s spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, said the government would stand by its decision to prevent the Arroyos leaving the country. “This is all high drama. They want the public to sympathize with them,” he said. Mr. Aquino has previously offered to fly foreign doctors to the Philippines to treat his predecessor’s condition at the government’s expense.
Ms. Arroyo’s husband, meanwhile, described the government as “mean” and “cruel.” “I feel sad. I feel mad. How can they refuse to follow the Supreme Court order? That is tyranny,” the Associated Press reported him as saying Tuesday.
Write to James Hookway at [email protected]
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By: James Hookway
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 17, 2011
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