Arroyo lawyer bets his balls

Just how far would a lawyer or spokesperson go to defend his or her client?

Ferdinand Topacio on Wednesday said he would not hesitate to castrate himself to assure Malacañang that his client, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, would return home should his wife, former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, receive medical treatment for her degenerative bone ailment abroad.

“I’m telling you this. I’m willing to cut off my balls if the former First Gentleman refuses to come home and elude the charge against him,” Topacio said.

“We believe that we can easily defend his innocence against the trumped-up accusations against him,” he added.

Raul Lambino, a spokesperson of Gloria Arroyo, said he would even give up his life to protect Arroyo’s rights.

Another Arroyo spokesperson, Elena Bautista-Horn, offered to take a less extreme action. She said she was willing to be jailed if the former President and her husband decided to flee. The couple are under investigation for electoral sabotage.

Topacio said there was no reason for the Arroyo couple to seek refuge in other countries as claimed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

De Lima on Tuesday defied a Supreme Court order allowing the former President to travel overseas. She directed the Bureau of Immigration to bar the Arroyo couple from boarding a Hong Kong-bound plane.

She justified her decision, saying that she had yet to receive a copy of the tribunal’s order.

Topacio said the Arroyos had no intention to seek political asylum just to avoid the investigation of the electoral sabotage charge filed against them in connection with alleged cheating in the 2007 senatorial elections.

“Once again, I assure the Filipino people that my client will return to the Philippines and face the accusations against him,” the lawyer said.

The former President is also facing plunder charges.

In sickness, health

Despite De Lima’s strong opposition, Topacio said the Arroyo couple would fly as soon as possible to Singapore  where the former President was supposed to see a medical specialist for her bone ailment.

“My client is just keeping his marriage vow that he would always be with his wife in sickness or in health, for richer or poorer,” Topacio said. “Why should the government fault him for that?”

He lambasted De Lima for supposedly turning herself into a “Super Supreme Court,” saying the acts of the justice secretary were in obvious disregard of the rule of law.

“As a fellow member of the bar, Secretary De Lima knows that lawful orders by the highest court ought to be respected at all times,” he said.

“By defying the TRO (temporary restraining order), she’s like a Super Supreme Court now.”

Topacio said it was clear that the Arroyos should be allowed to leave the country after they were able to satisfy the three conditions set by the high court.

“There was nothing in the order of the court which says that we should first seek the approval of Secretary De Lima. The TRO [on the hold-departure order of the DOJ] is immediately executory and she knows that,” he added.

Whatever it takes

Lambino, for his part, said he would do “whatever it takes” to protect the right of Arroyo to travel.

“Whatever the consequence, not just a jail term or just the removal of balls; even if it’s going to cause [my] death, why not?” Lambino told reporters outside St. Luke’s Medical Center-Global City on Wednesday afternoon.

“We are willing to take that risk,” he added.

Lambino said he was relying on the former First Couple’s word to face allegations of electoral fraud and plunder.

“I have full trust and confidence in the words of my client. If they say they will come back, I will bank on their assurances,” he said. “As a lawyer I am just going to follow what they say.”