Placing Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on BI watch list eyed

Now that she has been discharged from the hospital, former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may find her name on the immigration watch list sooner than later, according to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

“In the next few days,” De Lima told reporters when asked how soon she would issue an order placing Arroyo on the list.

The justice secretary earlier said she was considering the move in view of the string of plunder complaints filed against the former president.

But she deferred it “for humanitarian reasons” after Arroyo was confined at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City, where she underwent a delicate spine surgery on July 29.

Arroyo was discharged from the hospital on Friday, with her doctors advising her to rest at home for at least three weeks.

On Aug. 4, the justice department placed Arroyo’s husband, lawyer Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, on the watch list at the request of the Senate blue ribbon committee that was looking into his alleged involvement in the anomalous sale of second-hand helicopters to the Philippine National Police in 2009.

Mike Arroyo said he would go to the Supreme Court to challenge his inclusion on the watch list.

De Lima defended her “precautionary measure” against the former first gentleman, saying a memorandum circular issued by her predecessor, Alberto Agra, gave her the authority to order the monitoring of persons facing investigation or named in criminal complaints.

The former president’s lawyer, Raul Lambino, denounced De Lima’s actions as a part of a scheme “to put the Arroyos in a shameful situation and in a bad light for public consumption.”

“It is part of this administration’s overall production carnival to keep the trial and conviction by publicity against the Arroyos,” Lambino said in a text message.

“It is another political stunt to cover the incompetence and dismal performance of Malacañang and to divert public attention from the more massive anomalies committed by close associates” of President Aquino, he said. With reports from Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. and Marlon Ramos