Opposition solons want ban on Arroyo’s foreign trip probed

MANILA, Philippines – At least 30 opposition members in the House of Representatives, led by Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, on Thursday called for an inquiry into the November 15 barring of Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband from leaving the country despite a Supreme Court ruling upholding their constitutional right to travel abroad.

In filing Resolution 1901, the congressmen assailed immigration authorities led by Immigration Commissioner Ricrado David for continuing to enforce the Watch List Order (WLO) against the Arroyo couple on orders of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

The Arroyos, who were supposed to travel with four companions that included a nurse and a security aide, were stopped at Terminal I of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from boarding the 8:50 p.m. flight of Dragon Air bound for Singapore.

The resolution stressed that the former First Couple had complied with all the conditions imposed by the Supreme Court, including the posting of a P2-million cash bond as a condition for the high court’s issuance of a temporary restraining order on the Department of Justice.

Yet upon De Lima’s instructions, immigration officials led by Director Eric E. Dimaculangan, BI technical assistant for airport operations, did not process for departure the travel documents of the couple by sequestering and withholding their passports only to be retrieved much later by a representative of the Arroyos, the resolution said.

It also noted that immigration officials refused to talk with representatives and lawyers of the Arroyos who showed to them a certified true copy of the TRO and the official receipt covering the P2 million cash bond.

Worse, they intentionally made their whereabouts unknown later in order to avoid representations on behalf of the Arroyos and even caused the departure of the Dragon Air flight.

“The subject immigration officials failed and refused to show any order coming from Secretary de Lima instructing them to hold the departure of the former First Couple and maintain the status quo of the watchlist orders, but insisted that it was Secretary de Lima who categorically made the instruction to bar the departure of the former First Couple,” the resolution said.

It said that the Supreme Court attempted to serve a copy of the TRO to De Lima on November 15 but DoJ personnel refused to receive it purporting that it was already past office hours.

“The premeditated barring of the legitimate travel of the former First Couple is a blatant defiance of the Supreme Court’s TRO, a malevolent display of arrogance of power and an act of patent oppression,” the resolution said.

“The acts of the aforenamed executive officials constitute malfeasance and misfeasance in office, therefore within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability,” it added.