The Sandiganbayan antigraft court has granted former president and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo permission to go abroad for medical consultation and vacation with husband Jose Miguel Arroyo.
This would the the first time the couple is to travel out of the country since Arroyo stepped down as president six years ago and was subsequently jailed on charges of massive corruption.
The Arroyos face a graft case before the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division for the botched $329-million national broadband deal between the government and Chinese company ZTE Inc.
Last month the Supreme Court ordered Arroyo’s release from detention at the Veterans’ Memorial Medical Center when it dismissed her plunder case for the alleged misuse of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office funds.
The plunder case had been pending before the anti-graft court’s First Division since 2012 although Arroyo had been detained in the hospital since December 2011.
In separate orders issued Wednesday, the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division allowed the former president to travel to Munich, Germany and Paris, France from Sept. 19 to Oct. 3, 2016, and then to Hong Kong from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, 2016.
Her husband’s request to travel to Munich and Paris from Sept. 10 to Oct. 3, 2016, and also to Hong Kong from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, were also approved.
Arroyo had told the court that she would consult with medical experts in Germany and proceed to take a “short vacation” in France, as well as meet with the Filipino communities in those countries.
Arroyo suffers from a degenerative bone disease which has required her to undergo several surgeries.