Ignacio Arroyo’s body arriving next week, says former FG

Negros Occidental Representative Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo Jr.

The body of Negros Occidental Representative Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo will arrive next week from London, according to his elder brother, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, quoting the lawmaker’s eldest child.

In a phone interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Mike Arroyo said he had received a terse text message to that effect from his niece, Bianca Arroyo, who was in London finalizing details of the repatriation of the body. He gave no reason as to why the repatriation would be delayed for another week.

It was reported that Iggy Arroyo’s companion, Grace Ibuna, had obtained an order from a court in the United Kingdom recognizing her as the lawmaker’s next of kin and barring the wife from taking his remains home.

On Monday, Alicia Arroyo’s lawyer, Lorna Kapunan, said the lawmaker’s body would not arrive anytime soon. She cautioned Mike Arroyo to be wary of news from London, saying he might be misinformed.

Kapunan said that the injunction issued by the UK court was good for seven days, and that it remained to be seen whether the court would extend it.

Despite the delay, however, the funeral arrangements for the lawmaker will continue as planned upon the body’s arrival, Mike Arroyo said.

“He’ll spend one day in Congress, two days in Negros [Occidental], and three days in our ancestral home,” said the husband of former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Mike Arroyo had earlier appealed for privacy to allow the family to grieve over the passing of their “Ignacito” on January 26 in London, where he had been seeking treatment for cirrhosis of the liver.

The lawmaker’s estranged wife, Alicia Arroyo, said on Tuesday in a TV interview that it would be difficult for her to make peace with her husband’s companion, as Mike Arroyo had suggested.

The House of Representatives has taken a hands-off stance on the matter.

Next of kin

Alicia Arroyo flew to London last week and subsequently announced to reporters that she would bring the body home on February 4. But she came home empty-handed a day later.

Mike Arroyo told the Inquirer on Saturday that it was Bianca Arroyo, the lawmaker’s daughter by his first wife, who would bring home the body.

Iggy Arroyo’s marriage to Marilyn Jacinto, Bianca’s mother, has been annulled.

Kapunan said Alicia Arroyo had presented a certificate from a Quezon City court to the Philippine Embassy in London declaring that her marriage to the lawmaker remained in effect.

She also said the document should provide ample proof that her client, and not Ibuna, was Iggy Arroyo’s next of kin.

Alicia and Iggy Arroyo had been separated since 2005. They have a 14-year-old daughter.