Threats won’t stop GMA, husband from flying out
NO amount of threats or appeals will dissuade former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo of Pampanga from leaving, her spokesman said on Thursday.
Mrs. Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel were set to fly to Singapore on Thursday but they had to cancel their flight because the former leader was still unwell.
“We will leave tomorrow if she gets better,” Elena Bautista-Horn told The Manila Times in a phone interview. “If they stop us [again], it’s their call. What is clear is that the Supreme Court already reiterated that the former President has the right to travel,” Mr. Arroyo’s spokesman added.
Lawyer Raul Lambino told reporters that the former president called off her trip yesterday because she was “weak”, had unstable blood pressure and was hooked up to an intravenous tube.
He said that Mrs. Arroyo’s poor health might be due to the incident on Tuesday night at the airport where she was mobbed as she tried to leave.
Lambino said that Mrs. Arroyo was still determined to depart even if her health might be threatened by the strain of another potential airport confrontation.
“She would even risk her own life. She would go (to the airport) and ask to leave. This is non-negotiable. If she would not exercise her rights, that would mean submission to this evil that has been bestowed on us,” he told Agence France-Presse.
The Pampanga lawmaker remains at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City (Metro Manila) where doctors are trying to stabilize her blood pressure.
Horn said that Mrs. Arroyo has already missed at least five appointments with her doctors in Singapore because of the Watch List Order issued against her by the Department of Justice. On Thursday, the Arroyo camp was trying to set another appointment for Saturday.
Horn reiterated that the Arroyos would not escape.
“They have paid a P2 million cash bond and they are required to report in every Philippine Embassy, it would be easy for the government to track them down,” she noted.
Another plea
Also on Thursday, the Arroyos filed another plea asking the Supreme Court to force the DOJ and Bureau of Immigration (BI) to allow them to travel abroad.
In a 12-page urgent motion, Mrs. Arroyo said she has no other “speedy and adequate remedy” but to ask the High Tribunal to direct the DOJ and BI to stop preventing he and her husband from leaving the country.
She said the defiance by the DOJ of the lawful order of the High Court is “without any justification.”
“[I]t would be unthinkable if the decrees of this honorable court are left to the mercy and caprice of a party who does not feel bound by it, even if he were so impelled by the most worthy of motives.
If, as here, the Filipino people could see with their own eyes the sad spectacle of an order of the highest court of the land being flouted and disregarded, without action for such an odious breach, then, not only this High Tribunal, but the law itself, stands in disrepute,” Mrs. Arroyo said.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) on Thursday released a memorandum circular directing all aircraft owners and operators to implement the WLO.
The circular signed by CAAP Director General Ramon Gutierrez requested all aircraft owners and operators to honor the DOJ’s WLO issued against the couple.
“It is worth mentioning that the DOJ assumes the legal position for the existence of appropriate legal remedies that is entitled to and intends to avail,” it said.
With a report from Mayvelyn Caraballo
NO amount of threats or appeals will dissuade former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo of Pampanga from leaving, her spokesman said on Thursday.
Mrs. Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel were set to fly to Singapore on Thursday but they had to cancel their flight because the former leader was still unwell.
“We will leave tomorrow if she gets better,” Elena Bautista-Horn told The Manila Times in a phone interview. “If they stop us [again], it’s their call. What is clear is that the Supreme Court already reiterated that the former President has the right to travel,” Mr. Arroyo’s spokesman added.
Lawyer Raul Lambino told reporters that the former president called off her trip yesterday because she was “weak”, had unstable blood pressure and was hooked up to an intravenous tube.
He said that Mrs. Arroyo’s poor health might be due to the incident on Tuesday night at the airport where she was mobbed as she tried to leave.
Lambino said that Mrs. Arroyo was still determined to depart even if her health might be threatened by the strain of another potential airport confrontation.
“She would even risk her own life. She would go (to the airport) and ask to leave. This is non-negotiable. If she would not exercise her rights, that would mean submission to this evil that has been bestowed on us,” he told Agence France-Presse.
The Pampanga lawmaker remains at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City (Metro Manila) where doctors are trying to stabilize her blood pressure.
Horn said that Mrs. Arroyo has already missed at least five appointments with her doctors in Singapore because of the Watch List Order issued against her by the Department of Justice. On Thursday, the Arroyo camp was trying to set another appointment for Saturday.
Horn reiterated that the Arroyos would not escape.
“They have paid a P2 million cash bond and they are required to report in every Philippine Embassy, it would be easy for the government to track them down,” she noted.
Another plea
Also on Thursday, the Arroyos filed another plea asking the Supreme Court to force the DOJ and Bureau of Immigration (BI) to allow them to travel abroad.
In a 12-page urgent motion, Mrs. Arroyo said she has no other “speedy and adequate remedy” but to ask the High Tribunal to direct the DOJ and BI to stop preventing he and her husband from leaving the country.
She said the defiance by the DOJ of the lawful order of the High Court is “without any justification.”
“[I]t would be unthinkable if the decrees of this honorable court are left to the mercy and caprice of a party who does not feel bound by it, even if he were so impelled by the most worthy of motives.
If, as here, the Filipino people could see with their own eyes the sad spectacle of an order of the highest court of the land being flouted and disregarded, without action for such an odious breach, then, not only this High Tribunal, but the law itself, stands in disrepute,” Mrs. Arroyo said.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) on Thursday released a memorandum circular directing all aircraft owners and operators to implement the WLO.
The circular signed by CAAP Director General Ramon Gutierrez requested all aircraft owners and operators to honor the DOJ’s WLO issued against the couple.
“It is worth mentioning that the DOJ assumes the legal position for the existence of appropriate legal remedies that is entitled to and intends to avail,” it said.
With a report from Mayvelyn Caraballo
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