DE LIMA DISTORTED FACTS ON ARROYO RUMORED, UNVERIFIED 'ASYLUM'
MANILA, NOVEMBER 13, 2011 (STANDARD) by Christine F. Herrera and Maricel Cruz - Gloria Arroyo's camp says the Justice Secretary fed President Aquino wrong information, says it's all in aid of her 2013 election bid
JUSTICE Secretary Leila de Lima has deliberately distorted the facts and misled President Benigno Aquino III for saying that former President Gloria Arroyo changed her destination to countries without extradition treaties to make her appear as a "flight risk," Maria Elena Bautista-Horn said Friday.
"Secretary De Lima mixed up the fact that House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. approved two sets of travel authorities, one for a speaking engagement in the United States and another for medical treatment in Europe," Bautista-Horn, Arroyo's spokeswoman, said.
"De Lima misconstrued and fed the President wrong information that there was a plan to change course when there was none."
Bautista-Horn accused De Lima of using the issue to boost her political stock for a reported run at a Senate seat in 2013.
Malacañang on Friday admitted that the reports of Arroyo's application for asylum in the Dominican Republic remained "unverified."
"No," Lacierda said when asked if the Palace had other information pointing to Arroyo's alleged flight risk status.
But Lacierda maintained that the decision to turn down Arroyo's request for an allow- departure order was not only because of President Benigno Aquino III's suspicions on her true motive for wanting to travel abroad.
Bautista-Horn said De Lima herself admitted that the information on Arroyo's supposed asylum plan came from a mere text message.
De Lima said it was hard to dismiss reports that Arroyo had been granted "asylum papers" by the Dominican Republic on Oct. 25, 2011.
She said the Justice Department was now coordinating with Foreign Affairs to help confirm the existence of the "asylum papers."
Arroyo, who was diagnosed to have hypoparathyroidism, an extremely rare metabolic bone disorder, said she needed to undergo bone biopsy or her ailment would become "permanent in three months."
Arroyo's husband assailed the Palace for "circulating false rumors" about the asylum issue.
"Those responsible for circulating these false rumors, and the members of President Aquino's official family, should be the ones to seek asylum—-mental asylum—-for their recent official acts, which are an affront to the Constitution and the norms of human decency," he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Senator Edgardo Angara on Friday said the hold-departure order against Arroyo "rests on very shaky grounds," especially if it was based on speculation that the former President would be traveling abroad to evade prosecution here.
"To deprive a person of his or her right to travel, you need a court order, and not just an administrative decree," Angara said in a statement.
"With due respect to the judgment of the Justice Secretary [De Lima], there is no charge yet filed against the former President."
With Joyce Pangco Pañares and John Anthony Concepcion
DE LIMA BANKS ON GMA 'ASYLUM' TEXT RUMORS FOR NO TRO WIN
TRIBUNE - By Benjamin B. Pulta and Charlie V. Manalo - ARROYOS BLAST DE LIMA, DENY FAMILY SEEKING ASYLUM IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!
Claiming to be "concerned" over reports stemming from text messages that probably are spread by the Malacanang communications text brigade team, that the embattled former president, Rep. Gloria Arroyo, has already been granted asylum by the Dominican Republic, Justice Chief Leila de Lima raised the level of crass gossip to front page media reports by saying that she will be verifying these reports as these cannot be ignored.
The text messages claimed that the Arroyo couple had already been issued Dominican Republic passports and that they had already been granted political asylum by the country which asylum papers were claimed to have been handed personally by a Dominican Republic ambassador to India to Mrs. Arroyo.
"We are verifying this information. This is something we can't ignore," De Lima told reporters, adding that other countries Arroyo supposedly plans to flee have no extradition treaties with the Philippines."
This is one of the claims made by President Aquino and De Lima, stating earlier that there is suspicion that the Arroyos
will fly the coop and settle in a foreign country where they will be out of the reach of the Philippine government.
"Any information we are getting, which is becoming the basis for our doubts on the true agenda for the travel, would be coursed through the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs)," the DoJ chief said, adding that she is currently checking on the varying lists of countries of destination submitted by Rep. Arroyo in her earlier application for issuance of allow departure order.
"Anything is possible. They can always do that (seek asylum). What if our suspicion turns out to be true, that this (medical issue) is just a spectacle really to have shield for their actual intention of evading these cases?" she pointed out.
The DoJ chief also supported the alternative solution of President Aquino to have foreign doctors imported to check on Arroyo.
She believes there's no legal impediment for such suggestion: "If foreign specialists would come to check on a particular patient, consultation, I don't think that is already practice of medicine. An isolated act of consultation or even of treatment, I would assume, that's not yet a practice of medicine. So you don't need a license or permission."
The camp of the former President yesterday categorically denied that the former former first couple have been issued passports by a Latin American country where they were also supposedly granted political asylum—which was the gist of the text message, which item first appeared in a columnist' space, without any substantiation.
In a statement, Ferdinand Topacio, legal counsel for former First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo, said that as the Aquino's position does not to allow the former president and her spouse to leave the country has been met with widespread criticisms including from its own allies, the government is resorting circulating rumors in order to hide the truth.
"The recent canard being circulated by lackeys of the present administration regarding the alleged issuance of Dominican Republic Passports to (the Arroyos), is but the latest in a long line of lies being peddled in order to muddle the issue regarding the violation of civil and political rights of the Arroyo Family," said Topacio.
"Realizing that the placing of the Arroyos on a so-called Watch List Order (WLO) stands on legal quicksand, and facing widespread disapproval of the same by legal experts and public officials from a broad spectrum of the political rainbow, the Aquino Government is desperately resorting to circulating rumors in order to hide the truth," the lawyer said.
Mrs. Arroyo, who is seeking foreign treatment for a rare bone illness, had been conferred with the principal Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella last May by by Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez, supposedly for her "high merits" in establishing bonds of friendship between the Philippines and Latin America.
Refused by De Lima to leave for abroad, Mrs. Arroyo and her spouse last Tuesday challenged the administration's act of restricting their movement saying this violates the very tenets of the Constitution which uphold a person's right to travel.
Topacio denied the former First couple are holders of foreign passports maintaining they have no intention of seeking residency in another country.
"We categorically deny that the former First Couple are holders of Dominican Passports, nor have they sought political asylum in any country. They no intention of applying for passports or for residency in that country. They maintain their allegiance to the Philippines, where they definitely intend to return if allowed to leave, to face squarely the preposterous trumped-up charges against them. They have lived in the Philippines all their lives, they have consecrated their lives to the service of the country, and they will not leave, even in the face of unprecedented and unrelenting persecution from those in power," said Topacio.
"Those responsible for circulating these false rumors, and the members of President Aquino's official family, should be the ones to seek asylum – mental asylum – for their recent officials acts which are an affront to the Constitution and the norms of human decency," the lawyer added chastising those in the Aquino administration responsible for "violating his clients Constitutional rights.
Elena Bautista-Horn, Mrs. Arroyo's spokesman also denied that Mrs. Arroryo sought political asylum in the Dominican Republic as she stressed the Arroyos never identified the foreign country as one of their destinations in their plea to travel abroad to seek medical help for Mrs. Arroyo.
"Where did this rumor start? We are all still Filipinos. We have not switched nationalities," said Bautista-Horn.
Meanwhile, a militant solon known to be a staunch critic of the Arroyos said President Aquino, in refusing to grant the former president's request to seek foreign treatment, is making a martyr out of her.
At the weekly, Usaping Balita sa Serye, Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said that slowly, public sympathy is now gravitating toward the Arroyos after a photo of the former president had been leaked to the public verifying the Arroyo camp's claim Mrs. Arroyo is indeed ailing.
And with Aquino's hard line position on the Arroyos, Colmenares said the tide might turn in her favor, stressing that Aquino was employing the wrong tactic by violating the Arroyos constitutional rights to travel even as a single case has to be filed against them.
"President Aquino said his administration will start filing cases against the Arroyos beginning November but until now, no case has yet been filed," said Colmenares. "He (Aquino) is that indecisive."
The best recourse, Colmenares said, is for de Lima to file the appropriate cases against the Arroyos and let the courts issued a hold departure order (HDO) against them.
"In that way, everything will be legal," said Colmenares.
At least two senators expressed belief that the government does not stand a chance in slugging it out with the camp of the former president before the Supreme Court on the legality of the HDO issued against her by the DoJ.
"In my opinion, I think the hold order rests on very shaky grounds because the right to travel is a constitutional right of every citizen without even considering the status and position of the person. And to deprive a citizen of his right or her right, you need a judicial determination. You need a court order to do that, not an administrative decree especially in this case, with due respect to the judgment to the Justice Secretary, there is no charge yet filed against the former President.
He said that given the peculiar circumstances here the kind of illness she's suffering from is something that requires a special skill, a special surgical knowledge which may not be really available in the Philippines. He added that this is what his surgeon friends have told him.
"I think in this case of Mrs. Arroyo, the probability of her evading the legal processes of our country may be remote especially because in this time and era, there is practically no place to hide. Media will always find you. The arm of the law is longer now than before and you cannot hide anywhere you go," said Sen Edgardo Angara before reporters.
The matter of allowing Arroyo exercise one of her basic rights, her option to secure the professional services of a doctor of her own choice is non-debatable, according to Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III.
"It's obvious that she needs medical attention, why deprive her of exercising one of her basic rights, to choose her own doctor and seek the best medical treatment including options available outside of the country. Every person has a right to health and medical care corresponding to his state of health, without any discrimination," he said.
The inclusion of this provision in the laws is aimed maintaining individual needs and culture but also respecting a person's dignity, Sotto pointed out.
Sotto and Angara shared the view that the assumptions of the Aquino government that Arroyo is only out to extricate herself from the charges being hurled at her.
"We are arguing over something in the future that may or may not happen. In other words, we are going into speculation. As I've said, the most hardened criminals, those murderer or mass murderer even, cannot easily go on hiding. They're always brought to the hay. In her case, it's the same and with more reasons for public person like her," Angara said, appearing in the weekly news forum at the Senate. With Angie M. Rosales
Noy in big Blunderland FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 11/11/2011 THE TRIBUNE
[PHOTO - Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is facing several cases of plunder and electoral sabotage, both nonbailable offenses punishable by life imprisonment. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima Tuesday slammed the door on Arroyo's plan to seek medical treatment abroad. "My order is a denial of the request for an allow-departure order (ADO)," De Lima announced at a news briefing. Courtesy of Daily Inquirer]
It has been one big blunder after another that Noynoy and his Palace aides have been committing, giving themselves more problems they themselves create.
The latest blunder is the way Noynoy and his Injustice Secretary Leila de Lima have been handling the case involving the travel appeal of Gloria Arroyo for her medical needs.
If they don't know it yet, the whole shebang is boomeranging on them. Not only are they being seen by many Filipinos as being vindictive, but also that they are being seen as usurpers of judicial power, making it appear that a Department of Justice (DoJ) circular is higher than the law and the Constitution.
It has been noted that while Noynoy and De Lima keep on claiming that there are pending charges of plunder and electoral sabotage against her which are all non-bailable crimes, the nation knows that this is not so, because there have been no charges filed in court at all against Gloria and even her spouse, Mike Arroyo. What exists are complaints and even in the case of electoral sabotage, the preliminary investigation on this has not even been finalized.
And all they say is that she needs to be arraigned first. But an arraignment is done by a court, not even by the DoJ, its fiscals, or even the Ombudsman.
Are Noynoy and De Lima then saying that anybody who is the subject of a complaint by anybody is now a candidate for their watch list order (WLO) and their right to travel rests solely on them with an allow departure order (ADO)?
They should then explain why an WLO was not issued against the KKKs (kaibigan, kaklase, kabarilan) of Noynoy who were indicted by a De Lima fact-finding panel that investigated the August massacre of the Hong Kongers during the hostage crisis. They too, were indicted by the panel's findings but De Lima didn't bother to issue her infamous WLO against them.
There have been other charges leveled against Noynoy's boys and girls in his government. Why were there no WLOs from De Lima then?
It is all about the politics of vengeance, Noynoy-style, in the case of the Arroyos.
That Noynoy and his aides now know that his moves are seen by many Filipinos as vendetta, and that public sympathy has now shifted to Gloria--at least for her right to travel--Noynoy tried to show that he was not being vindictive by offering to fly in foreign doctors of her choice to attend to her and even said that the government will be shouldering all the medical expenses and doctors fees, which was yet another blunder on his part, as he would now have to explain how his government can justify paying for the medical expenses of Arroyo, something he won't be able to do because people's money spent for a former president's medical treatment can hardly be justified. Through that offer to make himself look good, he ended up looking stupid.
But because of his insistence to play with the life and health of the former president, there is that possibility that the high court may strike down De Lima's WLO and her equally repugnant ADO which combined is a facsimile of a hold departure order (HDO) that belongs solely to the judicial realm.
There are only two options to take for the Supreme Court (SC) in resolving the petition for temporary restraining orders to stop the Aquino administration from barring Gloria Arroyo travel abroad in search for her medical treatment: One, is to issue a TRO and the other is for the court to deny her that TRO until such time that the full petition is deliberated upon and for the high court to strike down the DoJ's WLO and ADO or uphold the DoJ's right to issue what is clearly a usurpation of judicial powers.
The right to travel cannot be impaired except in the interest of national security, public safety, or public health, as may be provided by law. National interest is not an exemption, a phrase which to date, Noynoy and his aides have failed to explain.
If the SC upholds the WLO and ADO as interpreted by the DoJ chief, then the court will have abdicated its power to issue HDOs to the executive.
If it does strike down these WLO-ADOs, the court will have done the Constitution and the Filipino proud, for protecting the rights of the Filipinos and defending the Charter
----------------------------------------------------------
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
----------------------------------------------------------
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------
