President Benigno Aquino III is worried that there could be a \u201cpolitical fallout\u201d for him if he allows his predecessor, Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to go abroad for medical treatment and she does not return to face prosecution for alleged corruption and electoral fraud.<\/p>\n
This is the question that is ostensibly weighing on Mr. Aquino who has to make the final decision on Arroyo\u2019s travel plans after the former President was placed on the immigration watch list, effectively barring her from leaving, by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.<\/p>\n
According to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad Jr., a senior political adviser of Mr. Aquino, the issue hinges on three considerations\u2014medical, legal and political.<\/p>\n
Arroyo, who wants to seek alternative stem cell therapy abroad for her hyperparathyroidism, has written to De Lima asking to be cleared for travel, promising to return as scheduled in the travel authority\u2014for a six-week period up to Dec. 15 covering five countries, Germany, the United States, Singapore, Italy and Spain\u2014approved by the secretary general of the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
Three considerations<\/strong><\/p>\n Abad said, \u201cThe medical question is: What is GMA\u2019s state of health? Is it serious enough to warrant travelling abroad for further treatment?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe legal question is: Is there legal basis to restrict GMA\u2019s right to travel and her right to seek medical treatment from doctors\/hospitals of her choice? Do the two cases filed against her\u2014electoral sabotage and graft\u2014provide that basis?<\/p>\n \u201cAnd finally political: What political fallout will befall the President in case he allows her to leave and then later on the government is unable to bring her back home to face trial on cases filed against her. Remember, the backdrop here is you have a people thirsting to see closure and justice on these cases that have brought them suffering,\u201d said Abad.<\/p>\n (Several plunder and electoral fraud complaints have been filed against Arroyo with the justice department and the Ombudsman\u2019s office but not a single case or charge in court. Some of these are in the preliminary investigation stage.)<\/p>\n According to Abad, Mr. Aquino has yet to make up his mind but when he does make a decision, his Cabinet and political allies will have to follow, whatever their personal opinion or inclinations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe President, in consultation with medical experts, his legal team, key Cabinet officials and his political allies, is still weighing these considerations. Once he makes up his mind, the LP and his political allies will stand by him. Our personal views on this issue will take a back seat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Malaca\u00f1ang earlier declared that it was leaving the decision on Arroyo up to De Lima. But the ball has now landed on Mr. Aquino\u2019s desk, after De Lima and Health Secretary Enrique Ona announced what amounted to their own decision on the matter.<\/p>\n Last Thursday, De Lima deferred issuing an allow-departure order to Arroyo, claiming that the former President seemed to be all right and there was no immediate need for her to leave. She made this decision after Ona reported that Arroyo was in good condition after making a personal visit to assess her condition.<\/p>\n Arroyo\u2019s spokesperson, Elena Bautista-Horn, has denounced Ona, saying he was not qualified to offer an expert opinion on Arroyo\u2014who is suffering from a mineral deficiency in her bones arising from two corrective surgeries in September\u2014because he was not a bone specialist. (Ona is a nephrologist and kidney transplant surgeon who used to head the National Kidney and Transplant Institute.)<\/p>\n Arroyo will not beg<\/strong><\/p>\n Horn said that Arroyo has no plans to \u201cbeg\u201d Mr. Aquino for permission to travel.<\/p>\n She reiterated that Arroyo\u2019s health was worsening, saying the former President has to take 25 different sets of medications a day aside from the daily hormonal injections for her parathyroid glands.<\/p>\n Horn also challenged De Lima to substantiate her claim that the Arroyos had other plans in their travel itinerary aside from seeking alternative stem cell therapy.<\/p>\n Arroyo had included 14 members in her travel entourage, including her alleged \u201cbag lady\u201d Remedios Poblador, in her original application to travel but only four were approved\u2014her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, a bodyguard, a nurse and Horn.<\/p>\n Her political enemies said her destinations of choice\u2014of which only the US has an extradition treaty with the Philippines\u2014indicated that she intended to remain out of the country to evade the charges against her.<\/p>\n Issue is right to travel<\/strong><\/p>\n For House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, neither De Lima\u2019s department nor Malaca\u00f1ang has the right to curtail Arroyo\u2019s right to travel as Arroyo\u2019s leaving did not involve national security, public safety or public health.<\/p>\n These are the only three issues that would restrict a citizen\u2019s right to travel which is enshrined in the Constitution\u2019s Bill of Rights, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not a question of compassion, accommodation or even health condition but a matter of the constitutional right to travel which former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo must exercise without any impediment or restraint,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Lagman stressed that the justice department\u2019s watch list order was not enough to deprive Arroyo of the right to travel because it \u201cis not equivalent to a hold-departure order which only the proper court can issue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no criminal information filed in any court or tribunal against former President Arroyo to justify the delay or denial of her right to fully exercise her freedom to travel,\u201d said Lagman.<\/p>\n Lagman has filed House Bill No. 5111, \u201cAn Act Upholding the Constitutional Right to Travel and Granting to the Proper Court the Exclusive Jurisdiction to Issue Hold Departure Orders\u201d to comply with Congress\u2019 constitutional mandate to enact a law guaranteeing a person\u2019s right to travel.<\/p>\n File charges now<\/strong><\/p>\n A House party-list member, fearing that Arroyo would take her case to the Supreme Court, urged De Lima and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales to immediately file even just one case in court against Arroyo and get a hold-departure order from a court.<\/p>\n \u201cThey should now throw the book at GMA. Some of these complaints have been languishing with our prosecutors for a year,\u201d said Teodoro Casi\u00f1o (Bayan Muna), who, with others, has filed half a dozen plunder complaints against Arroyo.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Aquino administration is risking another slap in the face once the former President brings her case to the Supreme Court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya, a member of the ruling Liberal Party, suggested that Arroyo wait for the results of the preliminary investigation of the complaints against her before going abroad since, he said, her disease was not life-threatening.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there is no finding of probable cause, then no problem. If there is finding of probable cause then she should have herself arraigned and allow the court to acquire jurisdiction over her. She can then apply for medical treatment abroad. Hopefully, she will be much better then and we should all pray for that,\u201d said Abaya, stressing that this was his personal opinion.<\/p>\n 2 bishops for allowing travel<\/strong><\/p>\n Two Catholic bishops, who were Arroyo\u2019s uncompromising critics, said the former President should be allowed to travel abroad to seek medical treatment.<\/p>\n Retired Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said that since Arroyo has not been charged in court, she retains her constitutional right to travel.<\/p>\n \u201cIf her sickness becomes fatal, De Lima gets all the blame and Arroyo becomes a kind of martyr,\u201d said Cruz.<\/p>\n \u201cIf she does not come back, then her flight is a sign of guilt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said Arroyo should be allowed to travel if the treatment is available only abroad, \u201cbut there should be a guarantee for her return.\u201d With a report from Jerome Aning<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Benigno Aquino III is worried that there could be a \u201cpolitical fallout\u201d for him if he allows his predecessor, Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to go abroad for medical treatment and she does not return to face prosecution for alleged corruption and electoral fraud. This is the question that is ostensibly weighing on Mr. Aquino […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,37],"tags":[27465],"byline":[782],"source":[206078],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n