Ignacio Arroyo won’t be home soon, says lawyer

The remains of Negros Occidental Representative Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo Jr. won’t be arriving anytime soon after his partner Grace Ibuna filed an injunction to stop the transfer, according to the late lawmaker’s legal wife.

Contrary to the perception that she and Ibuna were fighting over the remains, Alicia “Aleli” Morales-Arroyo said she did not have to slug it out with Ibuna because she had rights over the body.

Her lawyer, Lorna Kapunan, meanwhile cautioned the late congressman’s family, particularly his older brother Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, to be wary of any information they were being given. She said they were being misinformed about the return of Iggy’s remains.

The body “won’t be coming home anytime soon,” she said.

In a press conference Monday evening, Kapunan said that Ibuna, through her solicitor (lawyer), was granted an injunction by a London court effectively stopping the transport of Iggy Arroyo’s remains. The injunction was good for seven days and a hearing on whether to extend the relief was scheduled for Friday.

Aleli Arroyo presented a certificate from a Quezon City court declaring that her marriage to Iggy Arroyo had yet to be annulled. The document was sent to the Philippine Embassy in London and to the solicitor of the funeral parlor handling Iggy’s remains to assert her claim as the legal wife.

She also appealed to the media to be more circumspect in its reporting, saying that Ibuna was being portrayed as the aggrieved one. Aleli said it was she who was trying to avoid any conflict. Miko Morelos