OMBUDSMAN: WE WILL BE FAIR TO GMA; PRAYER MASS FOR GMA BY SUPPORTERS
MANILA, AUGUST 16, 2011 (STAR) By Jess Diaz - Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales promised fair treatment yesterday for former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who is facing numerous criminal cases including plunder.
"We will be fair to her. We will base our decisions on the evidence," she told reporters after appearing at a House budget hearing.
In Malolos City, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said that if he had his way, he will let Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel recover fully first from their ailments before grilling them for alleged corruption.
"If it were up to me, I'd suspend discussions regarding GMA," Enrile said referring to Mrs. Arroyo by her initials.
"You cannot bring her here. The stress is very difficult for her. You know, she cannot even move her head. It's so delicate that if she moves her head, it could snap and it could affect her neck," Enrile said.
Enrile was guest speaker yesterday at the commemoration of the 433rd founding anniversary of Bulacan province.
He said there might be some backlash if the Arroyos are subjected to grueling Senate probes in their condition because Filipinos are compassionate by nature. "We can do it (investigation) later," he said.
"I told my colleagues in the Senate to go easy on FG because there's a rupture in his heart)," Enrile said in Filipino. "If he suffers heart attack before us, it's going to be a big blow to the Senate," he added.
But he stressed the people have the right to know the truth.
"Let the truth come out no matter who gets hurt," he said.
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, for his part, said the former president should be allowed to leave the country if she really needs medical attention abroad as reportedly advised by her physicians.
"If you ask my opinion, I will agree (to a medical treatment abroad) because you are entitled to a doctor of your choice. If the procedure should be done in America because it couldn't be done here I would allow her just to save her life," Estrada told the weekly Kapihan sa Diamond Hotel media forum. But he said there is no need for her husband to accompany her.
Estrada, a staunch critic of Mrs. Arroyo, said he is praying for her speedy recovery so that she can face all the charges against her.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, said Mrs. Arroyo's doctors and not her spokesman should update the public on her medical condition.
"We'll only listen to the doctors not to the spokesperson," he said, apparently referring to Mrs. Arroyo's lawyer and spokesman Raul Lambino who had claimed that she had been advised by her doctors to seek medical treatment abroad either in Singapore or London. Lambino later denied being the source of such information.
'Lawyer turned doctor'
For his "misdiagnosis" of Mrs. Arroyo's condition, Lambino drew more brickbats yesterday from Palace officials, one of whom derisively calling him a "lawyer-turned-doctor."
"We are not alone in being puzzled why attorney-turned-doctor Lambino decided to comment on the medical condition of his client," presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.
"Suffice it to say that it is entirely up to the Arroyo family who they decide to deputize to speak for them, whether on medical, legal, or political issues," Lacierda said in a statement, which he entitled "On the misdiagnosis of Doctor Lambino."
"We are not surprised, however, that in apparently having to make an about-face for whatever reason, he disowns his previous statements by engaging in the usual squid tactics to push the political line that Rep. Arroyo faces persecution and not justice," he added.
"It will be to everyone's benefit if Lambino leaves commentary on his principal's medical condition to those who have given detailed medical bulletins to the public in the past – Rep. Arroyo's doctors and surgeons," he pointed out.
The Palace spokesman noted that Lambino even "donned a doctor's gown and proceeded to issue an update on what he said were the opinions of his principal's doctors on her medical condition."
"His statements were carried on TV and reported online," Lacierda maintained.
He said Lambino "quoted the doctors on potential risks and quoted Rep. Arroyo on her reasons, according to him, for declining to go abroad."
No stopping probe
Lacierda also clarified that their wish for Mrs. Arroyo's early recovery "does not detract us from our pursuit for justice and accountability."
"The wheels of justice must turn. There is due process in here. If we do this (lift travel ban), then we must turn our backs on others (other respondents) as well. This is not to say that we are heartless," Lacierda argued.
"We're not being un-Christian. We have already stated our position. We wish former President GMA well. We hope that her operation – I understand there will be another operation – will be successful," he added.
"We hope that the infection has receded and that they were able to clean the infection. We are not engaged in un-Christian conduct. The fact that we've stated this as much shows our concern also for the former president," Lacierda explained.
He stressed that government lawyers through the Office of the Solicitor General are prepared to defend Justice Secretary Leila de Lima's placing the Arroyos in the immigration watchlist.
"We believe that the law is on our side and that the issuance of the watchlist was based on a request by the Senate, and it was not issued arbitrarily," Lacierda maintained.
"As to word war, there is no word war except that they keep on saying that we are on a witch- hunt, which is not true. Again, we've always stated that we came on board we are going to clean the tables, we're going to clean the house," he said.
DOJ softens stance
But Mrs. Arroyo's camp may not have much to worry about getting her abroad for further medical help. Secretary De Lima said yesterday she is open to lifting the watchlist order if the Arroyo camp requests it.
"The (watchlist order) is still there. Whether or not I will lift it would depend on the justification if there will be such a request. That is an option available on my part," De Lima said. The watchlist order has been in effect since Aug. 8.
Mrs. Arroyo underwent surgery last July 29 and Aug. 10 due to cervical spine injury.
She is being treated at the St. Luke's Medical Center for a rare spinal infection that dislodged her spinal titanium implants. Her doctors are set to replace her spinal implants as soon as her infection disappears.
In issuing the watchlist order, De Lima said the former president is a "possible flight risk" considering the numerous criminal cases, including plunder, she is facing.
The order, which is in effect for 60 days, requires Mrs. Arroyo to secure clearance from the DOJ every time she leaves the country.
De Lima said the government cannot just ignore a report that Mrs. Arroyo and her husband are planning to seek political asylum in Portugal to evade what they claim is political persecution.
San Juan Rep. JV Ejercito claimed over the weekend that he had stumbled upon a report on the couple's "exit plan to Portugal." Portugal does not have an extradition treaty with the Philippines.
The report said the couple, both fluent in Spanish, had allegedly bought a villa in Portugal near its border with Spain.
Alarmed by the travel restriction imposed on the Arroyos, House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman pushed yesterday for the immediate passage of a bill that seeks to strip the President and the DOJ of the power to curtail a person's right to travel.
In his House Bill 5111, Lagman said only the courts should be allowed to issue hold departure orders and other travel restrictions.
"A watchlist order has been pejoratively likened to a rogues' gallery, a roll of infamy and a scroll of criminals whose movements have to be monitored to avert flight from justice," Lagman said. "Arbitrary inclusion in the watchlist order is a virtual incarceration by innuendo and conviction by publicity."
He said the power to bar a person from exercising his or her constitutional right to travel as stated in Article III Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution should not be granted to a "partisan" government official.
"This authority or jurisdiction should not be exercised by or delegated to agencies headed by presidential political appointees who succumb to partisan pressures or defer to political importuning at the expense of civil liberties," Lagman said.
He said an individual may only be barred from traveling abroad if there is "competent and compelling evidence" that he or she is a threat to public safety, national security or public health.
Healing Mass
Supporters of Mrs. Arroyo, including her former Cabinet secretaries, gathered yesterday for a healing Mass at the SLMC to pray for her recovery.
There was an outburst of emotion after the Mass, with some of Mrs. Arroyo's supporters lambasting the Aquino administration for accusing her of feigning sickness to avoid prosecution. The Mass was closed to the media.
"I wish they will also undergo the same situation so they will not talk like that. They are not Christians. They should join the show in CCP," former DOJ secretary Raul Gonzalez (photo) said after the Mass, referring to the controversial "Kulo" art exhibit.
"I'm not surprised at all that her working schedule these past decades is now taking its toll," said former environment secretary Lito Atienza.
Former Philippine National Railways chief Mike Defensor and former chief of the Presidential Management Staff Hermogenes Esperon also attended the Mass officiated by Fr. James Natillano.
"I want to tell Luli (Arroyo-Bernas) that I'm praying for her (mother). I pray she can be healed," an emotional Jose Concepcion said. Concepcion was Mrs. Arroyo's boss when she was still undersecretary for the Department of Trade and Industry. "We may have differences in ideas but she's a woman that needs compassion," he added. – With Dino Balabo, Edu Punay, Delon Porcalla, Marvin Sy, Helen Flores, Aie Balagtas See, Paolo Romero
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