Palace: No need for Arroyo to beg for foreign travel approval

Sunday, November 6, 2011
A MALACAÑANG official on Sunday said former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should not have to beg to be allowed to seek medical treatment abroad.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Arroyo should only need to comply with all the requirements of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to be able to leave the country.
“Wala naman pong hinihinging pagmamakaawa dito po sa isyu pong ito. It will be decided based on the compliance and all the other factors that Secretary Leila de Lima mentioned before she had left the country,” Valte said.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima last week deferred decision on Arroyo’s request for an allow departure order (ADO) to get a bone biopsy overseas.
De Lima questioned the different countries the former President will be visiting including Singapore, Germany and Austria, where there are said to be no extradition treaty with the Philippines.
She also considered the evaluation of Arroyo’s medical abstract done by Health Secretary Enrique Ona, saying the congresswoman’s health is improving and there is no immediate need for her to seek medical treatment abroad.
De Lima, who is expected to decide on the Arroyo’s ADO after she gets back from an international conference in Cambodia next week, said allowing the Pampanga representative to go abroad is one of three options that she is considering.
She did not disclose her other options.
She said granting Arroyo’s travel request in exchange for her affidavit in the poll fraud charges is already a good compromise, considering her word that she will return after her medical consultation to face the charges against her.
She said that the former President is considered a flight risk, considering the criminal nature of the charges against her.
“There’s always that possibility (that she would not return). There is that risk. Can we afford that all of these proceedings are suspended because of her absence? Remember, you can’t have a trial in absentia if the accused would not be arraigned should probable cause be established in the preliminary investigation,” she said.
The former President is required to secure approval for traveling abroad after being placed on the immigration watchlist together with husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, and 41 others, due to alleged involvement in electoral sabotage in 2007.
Valte, meanwhile, asked the camp of Arroyo not to use the case of President Benigno Aquino III’s late mother Cory in trying to secure approval from the DOJ.
Arroyo’s spokesperson Elena Bautista-Horn supposedly asked the Palace to be considerate since the previous administration has helped in the immediate release of medical equipment in the Customs warehouse for the treatment of Cory, who battled colon cancer for more than a year.
“Wala po kasing comparison doon sa naging sitwasyon ni former President Cory Aquino at doon naman po sa naging sitwasyon ngayon ni Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Siguro po, ‘wag na ho nating idamay ‘yung mga namayapa na,” Valte said.
She said it would be better to wait for de Lima’s decision since it is only a matter of days. (Jill Beltran/ECV/Sunnex)
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/11/06/palace-no-need-arroyo-beg-foreign-travel-approval-189049