Rep. Juan Miguel ‘Mikey’ Arroyo leaves for US hassle-free
Amid the gauntlet that his mother, former President Macapagal-Arroyo was running in order to be able to leave town, Ang Galing Pinoy party-list Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo handily left for the United States on Thursday night.
The son of the former president arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 2 at 8:50 p.m. for his flight to San Francisco scheduled to depart at 10:30 p.m.
The younger Arroyo refused to answer questions thrown by reporters waiting for him at the airport and was visibly irked by photographers and TV cameramen who dogged him. At one point he asked a couple of photographers to stop, telling them, “Enough!”
Normal procedures
Arroyo went through the normal security procedures at the airport that every passenger had to endure. He fell into a line, checked in at the business class for his Philippine Airlines flight and personally paid his terminal fee. He also removed his shoes during the final X-ray check.
Airport sources said the congressman travelled alone.
Unlike his parents, now Pampanga Rep. Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo who were prevented Tuesday by immigration authorities at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from leaving the country, the lawmaker cleared immigration immediately and was able to leave with ease.
According to immigration officials at the Naia 2, Arroyo, charged with tax evasion, already has a clearance to travel abroad, particularly to Southern California, from Nov. 14 to Dec. 7. Quezon City Judge Marie Christine Jacob of Regional Trial Court Branch 100 had earlier granted the bid of Arroyo to go to California on official business.
Ensure return
To ensure Arroyo’s return, the court increased Arroyo’s bond from P20,000 to P60,000 per count of failing to file an income tax return (ITR).
He and his wife Angela had been charged with tax evasion for allegedly failing to file income tax returns in several taxable years.
The congressman was charged with three counts of allegedly failing to file income tax returns from 2007 to 2009 while his wife was charged with seven counts for allegedly failing to file ITRs from 2003 to 2009.
But only the congressman flew to the United States on Thursday, leaving his wife to remain in the country.
He has said he planned to meet with several groups in the US that committed to help bankroll a health care program of Ang Galing Pinoy.
