Arroyo to try to leave for Singapore either Wednesday or Thursday, says Horn

MANILA, Philippines–Beleaguered former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her party will try again to leave for Singapore either Wednesday or Thursday to see an endocrinologist following a failed attempt to do so despite a Supreme Court ruling that cleared the way for her travel abroad, according to her spokesperson, Elena Bautista-Horn.

Horn said Wednesday that Arroyo, a representative of Pampanga, was scheduled to see the doctor in the city-state at 12:15 pm Thursday for an evaluation of the former leader’s disease of the glands because the former leader did not like taking too many medicines. Earlier reports said Arroyo has been taking at least 25 capsules a day for medication.

“I’m sure Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has run out of excuses. That’s Constitution 101. Yesterday, she said the DOJ had yet to receive the Supreme Court decision but we’ve just learned that the department received it last night. So there is no more reason for her not to allow Mrs. Arroyo to leave,” Horn told the Inquirer in an interview.

Horn said that Arroyo is still at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig Wednesday morning for checkup because the lawmaker felt bad when they were stopped by immigration authorities at the airport from leaving Tuesday night.

On the government’s offer to shoulder the cost to bring in Arroyo’s foreign doctors here so she could stay in the country to stand trial, Horn said the DOJ should better use the money to pay government lawyers to defend its case against her boss.

Horn said Arroyo will be accompanied by husband, lawyer Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, a nurse, a close-in aide, and two more staff members in the couple’s respective offices.