Senator urges Malacañang, DoJ to place ex-FG Arroyo on BI watch list

MANILA, Philippines—A senator on Tuesday urged the Department of Justice (DoJ) and Malacañang to immediately order the placement of former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo on the watch list of the Bureau of Immigration to ensure his attendance in the Senate’s next hearings on the allegedly anomalous purchase of used police helicopters.

Senate Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada made the call after two witnesses—Archibald Po and Hilario de Vera—implicated Arroyo in the controversy during Tuesday’s hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee.

Po told the hearing that he facilitated the purchase of five helicopters for Arroyo, of which two were sold as brand-new to the Philippine National Police. De Vera, for his part, claimed that the former First Gentleman allegedly ordered the sale of the used choppers to the PNP.

Po is president of the Lionair Incorporated, exclusive distributor for Robinson Helicopter Corp. while de Vera is president and general manager of Manila Aerospace Products Trading Corp. (MAPTRA), the authorized marketing arm of Lionair and an accredited supplier of the PNP.

“In effect, Mr. Po admitted to being the ‘frontman’ of FG for this transaction. In effect, too, it has now been clearly established that it was FG who engineered the whole deal related to the PNP’s purchase of the helicopters,” Estrada said in a statement.

“In order to tie up all the issues together and put a closure on this controversy, it is therefore imperative that Mr. Arroyo’s presence at the next hearing and the subsequent hearings that the Senate will schedule is assured,” Estrada said.

“I am therefore calling on (Justice) Secretary Leila de Lima of the DoJ and President Noy (Benigno Aquino) to immediately instruct the BI to place Mr. Arroyo on its watch list,” Estrada added.

Estrada also noted that Po’s admission during the hearing that he received a call from Arroyo before facing the Senate was “further proof” that the witness was intimately connected with the former First Gentleman.