Arroyo still can't leave the Philippines, government says

Friday, November 18, 2011

MANILA—Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband, Jose Miguel, will still be disallowed from going abroad even as the Supreme Court junked the government’s appeal to lift the stay order it issued last Tuesday.

According to Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz, the Arroyos will still be stopped from boarding a plane to Singapore later this Friday after an electoral sabotage case was slapped against the former president in a Pasay City court.

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The case has been raffled to Judge Jesus Mupas of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court branch 112 as the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which filed the case, asked it to issue a hold departure order against Arroyo.

As this developed, the Department of Justice filed a motion before the High Court to lift the TRO on the back of poll sabotage case levelled against the former president.

“The [Supreme Court] has denied the motion for reconsideration but there is already a case filed with the regional trial court and therefore all incidents to this case are now with the RTC. So I think we should await the developments at the regional trial court. In the meantime, since the RTC has acquired jurisdiction with this case, the WLO stays,” Cadiz told reporters.

The SC, through its spokesperson Midas Marquez, admitted in an earlier briefing that the justices only tackled the questioned watchlist order and the Department Circular No. 41, which was used to bar the Arroyos from leaving the country.

“It's a different case. Let the Pasay court decide on what it is supposed to do with the case filed before it. it has nothing do with the case pending before the Supreme Court,” he said.

Moreover, Cadiz said the justices did not take into account the filing of the electoral sabotage case during the deliberations on Friday morning.

“I think even the SC has said that this TRO does not cover or does not apply to any proceeding with the RTC. Since there is already a case filed there, that's beyond the ambit of the TRO issued by the Supreme Court,” he said.

The Arroyos are set to leave the country at 5:10 p.m. Friday via Singapore Airlines flight SQ 916, according to the former president’s legal spokesperson Raul Lambino.

But with this development, Cadiz said the former presidential couple cannot leave the country “as of now.”

“She cannot leave, she must not even attempt to leave,” he said. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)