MANILA, Philippines – Justice Secretary Leila De Lima took the witness stand Wednesday and testified on allegations that Chief Justice Renato Corona tried to influence the Supreme Court to bar the Department of Justice from stopping former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from leaving the country.
In her testimony on the 22nd day of the impeachment trial, De Lima said that she placed Mrs. Arroyo on the government’s watchlist order due to the electoral sabotage complaint she was facing before the DoJ.
On Sept. 21, 2011, De Lima said, Arroyo asked that she be given an “Allow Departure Order” so that she could leave for abroad where she would seek medical treatment. Two more requests followed in which her medical abstract and itineraries were attached.
De Lima said she asked Health Secretary Enrique Ona to evaluate the medical abstract and that Ona concluded that Arroyo could be treated in the country.
“As such, applicant’s medical condition does not therefore offer any exceptional reason that would override the paramount consideration for the issuance of a Watchlist Order against her that is to keep her within the jurisdiction of the Philippine criminal justice system,” De Lima said, reiterating her decision in 2011 not to allow Arroyo to travel abroad.
De Lima said she refused the request because aside from the findings of Ona, she also found Arroyo’s itinerary “disturbing,” with planned trips to Singapore, Geneva Switzerland, Spain and New York. Arroyo said she included Switzerland because of a conference that she was planning to attend there.
De Lima also questioned the number of people that was scheduled to accompany her, which included 14 household staff.
“She is a real flight risk dahil may nakasampa na malalaking kaso sa kaniya like plunder and electoral sabotage and at that time malapit nang matapos ang joint DoJ-Comelec investigation,” De Lima said.
Arroyo and husband Jose Miguel went to the Supreme Court where they sought the issuance of a temporary restraining order on the watchlist directive and asked that Department Circular No. 41, which was the basis of the DoJ’s authority to issue a TRO, be declared as unconstitutional.
On Nov. 15, 2011, the high court issued a TRO stopping the DoJ from implementing the watchlist order and imposing several conditions that the Arroyos must comply with before they could be allowed to go out of the country.
Among the conditions imposed by the high court were: 1. the Arroyos shall post a cash bond; 2. they will appoint a legal representative to receive subpoenas on their behalf, and 3. if there is a Philippine Embassy in their destination, they have to report there upon their arrival.
De Lima said the Arroyos had gone to the airport upon the issuance of a TRO by the Supreme Court, prompting her to order the Bureau of Immigration to stop the couple because they have not yet received a copy of the high court’s order.
She added that they have not even been given notice if the Arroyos had complied with the court’s directive.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile asked De Lima if there were instances when Corona acted alone in granting a petition by Mrs. Arroyo.
“Is there any instance where the respondent acted alone in the entirety of this petition in issuing any order, process, resolution bearing on this particular issue?” Enrile asked to which De Lima said none.
But she referred to a dissenting opinion of Supreme Court Associate Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno on the TRO where the justice noted that Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco tried to block the promulgation of her opinion upon orders of the Chief Justice.
When asked by Enrile if she had personal knowledge about it, she said she based her statement on the dissenting opinion of Sereno.