Cebu archbishop backs Supreme Court ruling on Arroyo

Former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

CEBU CITY—Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma on Thursday backed the temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court against the justice department’s travel ban on former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“On a personal note, I believe in the wisdom of the Supreme Court to allow (her) to leave the country,” Palma, incoming president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said in a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Arroyo’s “right to seek treatment is fundamental,” he said.

Two other prelates, Archbishop Antonio Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro and Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz of Lingayen-Dagupan, the latter a staunch critic of the Arroyo administration, urged the Aquino administration to respect the high court’s order.

In a report posted on the CBCP website, Ledesma said: “We have to follow due process in the country. If that is the decision of the Supreme Court, then we have to bow to that also.”

“I think it is fair to let (Arroyo) now have her cure and let her go,” Cruz said. Jason A. Baguia, Inquirer Visayas