House of Representatives divided, embattled

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

The House of Representatives is the new arena in the battle over whether to allow former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to leave the country for medical treatment.

At least 50 Liberal Party (LP) members have signed a resolution in support of the decision of President Benigno Aquino III and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to stop Arroyo from leaving the country.

A separate statement from the Akbayan party-list group said the LP draft resolution supported the “extraordinary political will” shown by the Aquino administration in preventing Arroyo’s departure from the country.

Quoting portions from the draft, the group said the government’s move was “in line with President Aquino’s covenant with the Filipino people to be the nation’s first and most determined fighter of corruption.”

Deputy Speaker Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III said the LP decided to consolidate its forces in response to a resolution filed by at least 30 opposition House members led by Minority Leader Edcel Lagman on Wednesday.

The resolution called for a House investigation of Department of Justice and Bureau of Immigration officials for defying a Nov. 15 Supreme Court ruling upholding Arroyo’s constitutional right to travel.

Talk of impeachment

“There has been talk from some quarters saying they are thinking of filing an impeachment complaint, thus, we need to consolidate our ranks, too,” Tañada said of Lagman’s announcement to file an impeachment complaint against Mr. Aquino for the Arroyo travel fiasco.

“This will show that the House stands with the President on this issue in the continuing pursuit of justice,” Tañada said.

Tañada said that the still unnumbered resolution was being circulated for more signatures and would be formally filed on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

“It is an LP initiative although members of the (majority) coalition are welcome to sign it. Initially, 50 LP members have signed it but we expect more to join us. We are still refining the language of the resolution,” he said in an interview.

There are 84 LP members in the 285-member chamber.

It would be the second showdown between the majority and the minority in seeking congressional action with respect to the issue of the former President’s right to travel.

Fence-sitter

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said he would not sign a resolution.

“As a Speaker, I would like to represent all the various members of the coalition of the majority and not the Liberal Party. I guess eventually, they would like anybody to sign it but as for me really I’m as much the Speaker of the NPC (Nationalist People’s Coalition) and all the others parties,” Belmonte said.

Quimbo measure

Lagman has filed a bill seeking to give the courts exclusive jurisdiction over the issuance of hold-departure orders (HDOs) against individuals, obviously an attempt to strip the justice department the power to issue the same under DOJ Circular No. 41.

On Wednesday, however, Marikina Representative Romero “Miro” Quimbo countered Lagman’s move by filing a measure that seeks to give the secretary of justice the power to issue HDOs, watch-list orders and allow-departure orders to prevent any miscarriage of justice, protect national security, guard public safety and ensure public health.

Quimbo said his measure would not set aside any doubt on the power of the justice secretary to issue these orders particularly against individuals whose cases are not yet filed with the regular courts but are still going through a preliminary investigation.

“The recent drama that pitted legal minds against each other in a magnified debate over the appropriateness of the HDO issued against former President Gloria Arroyo has placed the nation under unnecessary stress and has needlessly encouraged the people to doubt the wisdom of the DOJ, the judiciary and the Supreme Court,” Quimbo said.

Ifugao Representative Teddy Brawner Baguilat Jr. said the resolution assured the people that the LP was behind the political decision to stop Arroyo’s flight.

Humanitarian reasons

Bishop Jose Romeo Lazo of San Jose in Antique province doesn’t share the position of the administration lawmakers.

Lazo said the government should allow the former President to travel abroad to seek medical treatment.

“I think they should abide by the Supreme Court decision and allow her to go for humanitarian reasons. Of course, there should be precautions but no case has been filed against her yet,” Lazo said in a telephone interview.

A human rights lawyers’ group does not think that the rights of Arroyo were violated when the justice department barred her from leaving the country.

License to flee

The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) described the TRO issued by the Supreme Court on a DOJ hold-departure order as a “license to flee” for the former President and her husband.

“[Her] attempts to escape justice and frustrate efforts to prosecute her are  in plain view that nobody could have missed it. The minute she steps out of the country, the quest for justice will almost certainly fall apart,” the group said.

Lawyer Homobono Adaza, for his part, said De Lima was creating a dilemma for everybody.

The decision of the Supreme Court on the inclusion of Arroyo in the immigration bureau’s watch-list order, after all, was “final and executory,” Adaza, who was visiting a client, told reporters at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City. With reports from Kristine Felisse Mangunay and Jerome Aning in Manila; and Nestor Burgos Jr. and Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas