DoJ has no proof of asylum rumor, says De Lima

MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Friday that she did not do anything inappropriate by speaking publicly about reports that former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was planning to seek asylum in the Dominican Republic.

De Lima, in an ambush interview, said she was merely responding to queries from the media when she spoke about the report.

“Did the information about Dominican Republic come from me? Isn’t it that you were the ones who asked me about it, if I got any information about Dominican Republic? I said, yes, I received, but I was still verifying it. I don’t even know who’s the source of the text message forwarded to me…. You yourselves also received it,” she said.

De Lima has been challenged by Arroyo’s spokesperson, Elena Bautista-Horn, to show proof that Arroyo intended to seek asylum in the Dominican Republic, which she visited last May.

“I don’t need to produce evidence at this point. But it’s my duty to verify that [information] in the same manner that I’m verifying others. I actually have a more reliable information but since I haven’t verified it yet, I still cannot disclose it,” she added.

“They should not demand proof from me. But once I have the proof by all means I will produce it,” she said.

De Lima said earlier Friday she was still waiting for confirmation from the Department of Foreign Affairs of reports that Arroyo had obtained a visa from the Dominican Republic, where she supposedly intended to seek political asylum to escape criminal prosecution here.

De Lima, in a radio interview, said she has seen the page from the website of the office of Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez showing Arroyo being honored with an order of merit by Fernandez last May.

Arroyo’s camp initially denied that the former President had been to the Caribbean state.

“This only shows they are not forthright, they are not really open. That’s why we are having doubts,” said De Lima, who earlier barred Arroyo from leaving the country ostensibly to seek medical treatment.

De Lima also recalled that the former president’s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, said upon returning from a trip to Germany last month that he had already found a medical institution there where his wife could undergo treatment using stem cells.

“They did not say anything about this in their letter” requesting for permission to leave the country, she added.

Reacting to criticism  that she was merely using the Arroyo travel request to “grandstand” and boost her chances in the 2013 senatorial elections, De Lima said: “Does a justice secretary need to have a political ambition just to fulfill his job and mandate? I’m used to that [criticism], they always throw it to me whenever I make a ruling. But they do not know me. [What I  did was] the right thing to do in fulfillment of my mandate.”