Arroyo camp shifting foreign travel battle to legal arena

Regardless of how President Benigno Aquino III will decide on the issue, the camp of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is shifting the battle to allow her to seek medical help abroad to the legal arena. In a radio interview Tuesday, Mrs. Arroyo's spokesperson Elena Bautista-Horn said the lawyers of the former Philippine leader have started planning their legal moves. "We are already taking our battle to the legal arena. Kahit anong paliwanag namin sa legal aspects kung anu-ano ang kanilang hinihingi (We are taking our battle to the legal arena. Regardless of what our explanations are, they ask for more)," Bautista-Horn told dzBB radio. She added the Arroyo camp already explained "as much as we can" the former leader's medical requirements. "Kung hindi sila makikinig, we are looking at shifting the fight to the legal arena," she said. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is expected to announce Tuesday her decision on whether to allow Mrs. Arroyo to seek medical attention abroad for her condition, even as Malacañang had said that President Aquino will have the final say on the matter. Bautista-Horn said that while the country has doctors who can perform bone biopsy, Mrs. Arroyo needs to see those specializing in metabolic bone biposy. She said the Arroyo camp had requested the government for a list of metabolic bone disorder specialists in the Philippines. "May certification kami walang ganyang duktor sa Pilipinas. Ibigay nila [ang] listahan sa amin, anong protocols ang gagamitin. Ipakita nila sinong pathologist [ang] marunong magbasa ng mineral bone biopsy report. Ibigay nila ang pangalan, huwag sila mangampanya sa media," she said. Once the Arroyo camp gets the list, it will review the credentials of the supposed specialists. The credentials to be reviewed include how many patients they have treated and their success rate, she said. "Gusto namin tingnan ang credentials, facilities, experience, at protocols na i-a-apply niya at sino pathologist [ang] mag-i-interpret ng resulta (We want to see their credentials, facilities, experience and protocols)," she said. Bautista-Horn said Mrs. Arroyo needs to see a specialist abroad soonest to also check her seemingly non-functioning thyroid glands. "The sooner they can look at her gland and sooner they try to regenerate the glands, the better," she said. — RSJ, GMA News