BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—Businesswoman Grace Ibuna has refused to comment on accusations hurled against her by Alicia “Aleli” Morales-Arroyo, wife of Representative Ignacio Arroyo Jr., who died of cardiac arrest in London.
“I don’t want to dignify anything and anyone,” she said in an interview on dyEZ Aksyon Radyo in Bacolod.
Instead of answering accusations against her, Ibuna asked for prayers for Arroyo and their families.
Ibuna was at the lawmaker’s bedside when Arroyo died in London last Thursday. The congressman had been in London since 2011 to seek treatment for cirrhosis of the liver.
But Ms. Arroyo, in an interview with GMA-7 in Manila, said she was contemplating filing charges against Ibuna if indeed the latter had authorized the physicians to pull out the life support system for the lawmaker. In an interview over Aksyon Radyo, Ibuna said she would not answer the accusations against her, saying “it would just be a waste of time.”
“All I want for the Negrenses, especially in the 5th district of Negros Occidental, is to pray for Iggy, and for us to overcome the grief,” Ibuna said.
“If there is somebody who wants to prolong the life of Iggy, it is me,” she added.
She confirmed that Bianca, the eldest daughter of Arroyo by his first wife, Marilen Jacinto, is now in London, to prepare for the repatriation of Arroyo’s body to the Philippines.
The remains of Arroyo are at a funeral parlor in London.