JUST gossip.
That much was admitted by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on the issue that former President Gloria Arroyo and her family were seeking political asylum in the Dominican Republic.
De Lima on Friday said that the issue stemmed from text message forwarded to her and that she was later asked by
the media about it.
According to her, she did not say that the Arroyos were seeking asylum in the Caribbean country, only that the text message gave birth to the issue.
The Justice secretary seemed to be trying much too hard to wiggle her way out of the fiasco.
“Nanggaling ba sa ‘kin yung Dominican Republic info? di ba kayo nagtanong sa ‘kin nun? kung may nakuha akong info about Dominican Republic? sabi ko oo nakatanggap ako ng text so bine-verify ko pa. I don’t even know who’s the source of text kasi finorward sa akin [Did the Dominican Republic information come from me? Were you [media] not the ones who asked me that? Whether I got information about the Dominican Republic? I said yes that I received a text message so I was still verifying it. I don’t even know the source of the text because it was just forwarded to me],” she said.
De Lima segued into saying that she was receiving more reliable information that asylum is being sought by Mrs. Arroyo in two countries, which she refused to name.
“This did not come from a text message. Medyo reliable ang source ko tungkol du’n [My source this time is a little more reliable],” she said.
According to de Lima, the Arroyo couple might seek political asylum in two countries, which were identified by a newspaper as Portugal and Spain.
She also did not say if Portugal and Spain were the same countries that her reliable source was referring to.
Mrs. Arroyo listed Spain, but not Portugal, in her request for an Allow Departure Order as one of her five destination countries.
The other four were Singapore, Germany, the United States and Switzerland.
“I am coordinating with the Department of Foreign Affairs [DFA] to confirm the information,” de Lima said.
She noted that “foreign nations are not compelled, in the initial stages, to disclose information on applicants for political asylum.”
“We cannot discount such intention to seek political asylum because if they leave and do not return, then how else can they justify their continued stay in that country?” the Justice chief asked.
Meanwhile, de Lima said that permission from the Professional Regulation Commission for foreign doctors who will come into the country to conduct medical examinations on Mrs. Arroyo was not needed.
With her admission that the asylum issue developed from a text message, the Foreign Affairs department need not wait any longer for an official request from the DOJ chief for the DFA to verify “reports” on the Arroyos seeking asylum in South America.
The Foreign Affairs department also on Friday said that it was awaiting an official request from the Justice department before it could verify the supposed reports.
Its spokesman, Raul Hernandez, in a text message to The Manila Times, said that the department has “not received any communication from the Justice department on the matter [of Mrs. Arroyo and her family seeking asylum in the Dominican Republic].”
“And we need a basis for any action [that] we will take,” he added.
Malacañang belittled the reports that Mrs. Arroyo was seeking asylum in the Dominican Republic or in any other country for that matter.
“We were informed by [Justice] Secretary Leila de Lima of that unverified information [in the reports]. The request of Rep. [Gloria Macapagal-]Arroyo was very ambiguous at best. They were not able to identify the specialists. They kept on changing the countries of choice or countries of destination. This gave rise to suspicions also as to the nature and the purpose of their travel abroad, Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said also on Friday
“And, for that reason and also among the others, for instance, after consulting Secretary [Enrique] Ona that the medical condition of former President Arroyo was not life-threatening, these were the legal reasons, basis by which Secretary de Lima justified in disallowing the former president to travel,” he added.
The Justice chief on Thursday said that reports had reached her office that the ex-leader and her family received documents for their political asylum in the Dominican Republic on October 25.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that a person has the right to seek asylum in another country if his own country is persecuting him based on political or religious beliefs.
The Philippines has no extradition treaty with the Dominican Republic.
The Justice secretary earlier denied a request of Mrs. Arroyo to lift a hold departure order issued against her so that she would be able to travel to several countries for medical treatment of her bone ailment.
In May this year, the former leader and now lawmaker representing her native province of Pampanga, was honored by the Caribbean country’s President Leonel Fernandez with the principal Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella for “high merits” in establishing friendship between the Philippines and Latin America.
With an estimated population of 10 million, the Dominican Republic became a party to the United Nations’ Refugee Convention and Protocol in 1978.
The 1951 Refugee Convention and Protocol defines who a refugee is and spells out the legal protection that he should receive.
According to a 2003 survey of the US Committee on Refugees, Dominican Republic law provides that those who wish to seek political asylum there must submit their applications to the National Office for Refugees [NOR] within the Directorate of Migration.
The NOR will review the applications and then submit them to the National Commission for Refugees (NCR), which is in charge of adjudicating claims.
The NCR’s decision will then be relayed to both the applicant and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR].
Among those who sought and was granted political asylum in the Dominican Republic was former President Gustavo Noboa of Ecuador, who was being investigated for alleged financial anomalies during his administration.
Data from the UNHCR showed that there were 1,759 persons with pending applications for political asylum in the Dominican Republic as of January 2011.
De Lima rejecting a plea from Mrs. Arroyo for an Allow Departure Order to avail of medical help overseas meant that the former leader has to live with being treated in the Philippines.
And so Lacierda also on Friday urged the Arroyo camp to furnish the Palace with the name of a foreign doctor who would examine the patient.
“Give us the name of the specialist. And, like we said, we’re going to fly in the specialists so let’s stop quibbling on six or three, the fact that it’s stated, it’s on record. Give us the names of the specialists and we’ll bring them in—simple as that. The offer is very simple. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or to say ‘yes’ to the proposition,” he said.
When asked how much the government is setting aside to finance the flight of the foreign doctor, Lacierda said that Malacañang has no idea yet.
The Arroyo camp, through its spokesman Elena Bautista-Horn, had declined an offer of President Benigno Aquino 3rd to fly in the doctor of Mrs. Arroyo’s “choice,” saying that the issue was not only a question of health but political.
Horn said that the right to travel is a right guaranteed by the Constitution.
But, according to Lacierda, “If the sole purpose is to seek medical attention, the priority was to identify the medical specialists, a fact that they [Arroyo camp] failed to state in [its] request to travel both in the House of Representatives as well as the letter to the DOJ.”
He described as “ridiculous” a counter-offer of Mrs. Arroyo’s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, for President Aquino to join them abroad.
With report from Jaime Pilapil. -Manila Times
That much was admitted by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on the issue that former President Gloria Arroyo and her family were seeking political asylum in the Dominican Republic.
De Lima on Friday said that the issue stemmed from text message forwarded to her and that she was later asked by
the media about it.
According to her, she did not say that the Arroyos were seeking asylum in the Caribbean country, only that the text message gave birth to the issue.
The Justice secretary seemed to be trying much too hard to wiggle her way out of the fiasco.
“Nanggaling ba sa ‘kin yung Dominican Republic info? di ba kayo nagtanong sa ‘kin nun? kung may nakuha akong info about Dominican Republic? sabi ko oo nakatanggap ako ng text so bine-verify ko pa. I don’t even know who’s the source of text kasi finorward sa akin [Did the Dominican Republic information come from me? Were you [media] not the ones who asked me that? Whether I got information about the Dominican Republic? I said yes that I received a text message so I was still verifying it. I don’t even know the source of the text because it was just forwarded to me],” she said.
De Lima segued into saying that she was receiving more reliable information that asylum is being sought by Mrs. Arroyo in two countries, which she refused to name.
“This did not come from a text message. Medyo reliable ang source ko tungkol du’n [My source this time is a little more reliable],” she said.
According to de Lima, the Arroyo couple might seek political asylum in two countries, which were identified by a newspaper as Portugal and Spain.
She also did not say if Portugal and Spain were the same countries that her reliable source was referring to.
Mrs. Arroyo listed Spain, but not Portugal, in her request for an Allow Departure Order as one of her five destination countries.
The other four were Singapore, Germany, the United States and Switzerland.
“I am coordinating with the Department of Foreign Affairs [DFA] to confirm the information,” de Lima said.
She noted that “foreign nations are not compelled, in the initial stages, to disclose information on applicants for political asylum.”
“We cannot discount such intention to seek political asylum because if they leave and do not return, then how else can they justify their continued stay in that country?” the Justice chief asked.
Meanwhile, de Lima said that permission from the Professional Regulation Commission for foreign doctors who will come into the country to conduct medical examinations on Mrs. Arroyo was not needed.
With her admission that the asylum issue developed from a text message, the Foreign Affairs department need not wait any longer for an official request from the DOJ chief for the DFA to verify “reports” on the Arroyos seeking asylum in South America.
The Foreign Affairs department also on Friday said that it was awaiting an official request from the Justice department before it could verify the supposed reports.
Its spokesman, Raul Hernandez, in a text message to The Manila Times, said that the department has “not received any communication from the Justice department on the matter [of Mrs. Arroyo and her family seeking asylum in the Dominican Republic].”
“And we need a basis for any action [that] we will take,” he added.
Malacañang belittled the reports that Mrs. Arroyo was seeking asylum in the Dominican Republic or in any other country for that matter.
“We were informed by [Justice] Secretary Leila de Lima of that unverified information [in the reports]. The request of Rep. [Gloria Macapagal-]Arroyo was very ambiguous at best. They were not able to identify the specialists. They kept on changing the countries of choice or countries of destination. This gave rise to suspicions also as to the nature and the purpose of their travel abroad, Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said also on Friday
“And, for that reason and also among the others, for instance, after consulting Secretary [Enrique] Ona that the medical condition of former President Arroyo was not life-threatening, these were the legal reasons, basis by which Secretary de Lima justified in disallowing the former president to travel,” he added.
The Justice chief on Thursday said that reports had reached her office that the ex-leader and her family received documents for their political asylum in the Dominican Republic on October 25.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that a person has the right to seek asylum in another country if his own country is persecuting him based on political or religious beliefs.
The Philippines has no extradition treaty with the Dominican Republic.
The Justice secretary earlier denied a request of Mrs. Arroyo to lift a hold departure order issued against her so that she would be able to travel to several countries for medical treatment of her bone ailment.
In May this year, the former leader and now lawmaker representing her native province of Pampanga, was honored by the Caribbean country’s President Leonel Fernandez with the principal Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella for “high merits” in establishing friendship between the Philippines and Latin America.
With an estimated population of 10 million, the Dominican Republic became a party to the United Nations’ Refugee Convention and Protocol in 1978.
The 1951 Refugee Convention and Protocol defines who a refugee is and spells out the legal protection that he should receive.
According to a 2003 survey of the US Committee on Refugees, Dominican Republic law provides that those who wish to seek political asylum there must submit their applications to the National Office for Refugees [NOR] within the Directorate of Migration.
The NOR will review the applications and then submit them to the National Commission for Refugees (NCR), which is in charge of adjudicating claims.
The NCR’s decision will then be relayed to both the applicant and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR].
Among those who sought and was granted political asylum in the Dominican Republic was former President Gustavo Noboa of Ecuador, who was being investigated for alleged financial anomalies during his administration.
Data from the UNHCR showed that there were 1,759 persons with pending applications for political asylum in the Dominican Republic as of January 2011.
De Lima rejecting a plea from Mrs. Arroyo for an Allow Departure Order to avail of medical help overseas meant that the former leader has to live with being treated in the Philippines.
And so Lacierda also on Friday urged the Arroyo camp to furnish the Palace with the name of a foreign doctor who would examine the patient.
“Give us the name of the specialist. And, like we said, we’re going to fly in the specialists so let’s stop quibbling on six or three, the fact that it’s stated, it’s on record. Give us the names of the specialists and we’ll bring them in—simple as that. The offer is very simple. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or to say ‘yes’ to the proposition,” he said.
When asked how much the government is setting aside to finance the flight of the foreign doctor, Lacierda said that Malacañang has no idea yet.
The Arroyo camp, through its spokesman Elena Bautista-Horn, had declined an offer of President Benigno Aquino 3rd to fly in the doctor of Mrs. Arroyo’s “choice,” saying that the issue was not only a question of health but political.
Horn said that the right to travel is a right guaranteed by the Constitution.
But, according to Lacierda, “If the sole purpose is to seek medical attention, the priority was to identify the medical specialists, a fact that they [Arroyo camp] failed to state in [its] request to travel both in the House of Representatives as well as the letter to the DOJ.”
He described as “ridiculous” a counter-offer of Mrs. Arroyo’s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, for President Aquino to join them abroad.
With report from Jaime Pilapil. -Manila Times
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