Despite his heart condition, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, the husband of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is fighting the order of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David putting him on the travel watch list.
His lawyer, Inocencio Ferrer, on Friday asked the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order and/or writ of preliminary injunction on the implementation of the watch list order, and to hold oral arguments on his petition “so that all the issues of constitutional importance would be properly ventilated and debated upon.”
Being on the watch list means that one has to notify the Department of Justice every time one leaves for abroad.
Ferrer told reporters that the public would benefit from a discussion of the constitutionality of the DOJ ’s issuance of watch-list and hold-departure orders.
After all, he said, the issue involved everyone’s “right to travel without restraint and without having to ask permission to do so from the DOJ.”
Arroyo’s arguments focused on the alleged violation of his right to travel, the equal protection clause in the 1987 Constitution, and his right to due process.
He also asked that the DOJ circular on which De Lima based the watch-list order be declared unconstitutional.
Ferrer said the watch-list order and the DOJ circular were “mere issuances” of the justice secretary.
He said there was no law “defining the standards, limitations, conditions, before our right to travel abroad or within the Philippines can be restricted.”
In his petition, Arroyo said the Constitution states that one’s right to travel may be impaired only in the interest of national security, public safety and public health.
He said none of these three points was present as applied to him.
Arroyo is implicated in the purchase by the Philippine National Police of used helicopters passed off as brand-new. Senator Teofisto Guingona, chairman of the blue ribbon committee that is investigating the matter, has requested that Arroyo be put on the watch list.
Arroyo’s wife, now a Pampanga representative, is the subject of five plunder suits and is also on the watch list.
Agra circular
The DOJ circular was issued in May 2010 by De Lima’s predecessor as justice secretary, Alberto Agra.
Asked if it was ironic that the circular was issued during the term of Arroyo’s wife, Ferrer said: “Whoever the justice secretary was who issued the order is beside the point.”
“Now we are questioning that circular here in the Supreme Court. Not only that, but also the process, the way the circular was issued,” he said.
Ferrer also said that Arroyo had no pending criminal case to warrant being put on the watch list, and that his client had been singled out from those being investigated.
He said those who had admitted taking part in the purchase of the choppers—a reference to Lionair Inc. owner Archibald Po—were not put on the watch list.
In his petition, Arroyo pointed out the “absurdities” in the watch-list order, such as requiring permission before a subject could travel abroad.
He wondered whether he should seek permission from the justice secretary when he had no pending criminal complaint at the DOJ, or from the Senate when he was “[neither] seeking any legislation nor the subject of any legislation by the Senate.”
He also said that the ongoing Senate inquiry was not a criminal proceeding, and that “there has been no iota of evidence or any indication” that he would “escape.”
Earlier return
Arroyo’s eldest child, Ang Galing Pinoy Representative Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, sent word that he was returning from abroad earlier than scheduled because he had heard of De Lima’s plan to also put him on the watch list.
“I am doing this not only to prove that I am not a flight risk but also to show my respect and sincerity to our judicial system and to the Filipino people,” Mikey Arroyo said in a statement.
“This is the first time in the history of Philippine politics that an entire family is persecuted,” he said.
Last Wednesday, De Lima said she planned to put Mikey Arroyo on the watch list for 60 days because he and his wife were facing a P74-million tax evasion case filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. But the lawmaker has yet to receive a formal notice from the DOJ.
Mikey Arroyo flew to the United States on August 5, supposedly to meet with possible donors of medical equipment for his party-list group representing security guards and tricycle drivers.
He said he would return on August 15 instead of August 20 “even if this would mean going out of my way and paying the necessary rebooking fee.”
“Evading the tax cases against me has never crossed my mind. I have always been sincere in cooperating with the authorities regarding this issue. In fact, records will show that since my wife and I arrived home from our previous trip abroad, we have always been punctual in attending our hearings, even arriving earlier than the scheduled time,” he said.
Mikey Arroyo also thanked his family’s supporters who, he said, had “continued to pray for the speedy recovery of my mother and to bear with us through these trying times.”
Gloria Arroyo is confined at St. Luke’s Medical Center due to an infection that resulted in a failed follow-up operation on her cervical spine.
Give them a break
In an interview over Church-run Radio Veritas, retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz said that Mike and Gloria Arroyo should be allowed to recover from their ailments before being summoned for investigation.
“I know they’re suffering. I want [the inquiries] to proceed but I wish they’d get well first. It would be difficult if they’re sick and you go ahead [with the inquiries]. That would be inhumane,” he said.
Cruz, a former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said the investigation of the Arroyos should resume as soon as they got well.
“I’m not saying they shouldn’t be made accountable. I’m just saying, give them time off so that they can get healthy enough to… defend themselves. A person who stumbled should not be kicked; that’s also my principle,” he said.
Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, CBCP public affairs committee chair, agreed with Cruz.
“The investigations should continue. But the state of health and the ailments of the accused should be taken into account,” Iñiguez said in a separate interview.
Curious
The inquiries are, in fact, continuing.
The joint committee of the DOJ and Commission on Elections (Comelec) that would look into the alleged fraud in the 2004 and 2007 elections may evaluate the claim of two Lionair pilots who said they flew Mike Arroyo and members of his family to Mindanao during the election period in 2004.
“We are curious. There may be other things that the pilots may know, so we want to find out who were their passengers, where they went, and the circumstances [of their trips] during, before and after the elections, especially during the canvassing,” De Lima told reporters Friday.
On another point, Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. said the joint committee would look into the fake ballots and other tampered documents uncovered by the Senate Electoral Tribunal in the protest of Senator Aquilino Pimentel III.
“All decisions [by government bodies] anywhere, we can take judicial notice. Like this one … We will consider it,” Brillantes said.
De Lima said she would ask the DOJ-Comelec committee to evaluate the pilots’ testimonies at Thursday’s hearing by the Senate blue ribbon committee on the questionable sale of choppers purportedly owned by Mike Arroyo.
She said there were “angles” in the pilots’ testimonies that would prompt people to think that the choppers might have been used for election-related purposes.
At the hearing, Dennis Silvestre said he flew a number of military officers carrying large bags around Marawi City during the 2004 election. He said he was unaware of the contents of the bags.
Margarito Labastilla said he flew men in civilian clothes to various points in Mindanao during the same time. When asked by the senators, he said he did not have the capacity to say whether the men were in Mindanao for election-related “special operations.” With reports from Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. and Jerome Aning
First posted 12:27 am | Saturday, August 13th, 2011