DOJ rejects Arroyo request to seek treatment abroad

(Updated 5:37 p.m.) The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday rejected former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's plea to travel abroad for medical treatment. "My order is a denial of the request," said Justice Secretary Leila de Lima at a press briefing where she announced her decision denying Mrs. Arroyo an Allow Departure Order or ADO. Mrs. Arroyo, who is being treated for her pinched nerve and is suffering from hypoparathyroidism and a bone mineral disorder, is asking the DOJ for an ADO so medical specialists abroad can check her medical condition. Mrs. Arroyo is facing plunder and electoral sabotage charges, and needs to secure an ADO before she can leave the country. She is on the Immigration watch list in connection with the charges against her. De Lima's announcement came hours after Mrs. Arroyo's camp, through her lawyer Estelito Mendoza, filed before the Supreme Court a petition for certiorari and prohibition, questioning the watch list order against her. De Lima, who headed the Commission on Human Rights during the Arroyo administration, said she is "not convinced with any exceptional reason or circumstance" to grant the request. De Lima: Aquino OK with decision De Lima met with President Benigno Aquino III in Malacañang earlier in the day to inform him of her decision. She said Aquino supports the decision and "has cleared the issuance of the order." The Justice secretary noted was nothing illegal in her order because she is considered "the Palace's alter ego." However, De Lima, assured Mrs. Arroyo that despite the denial of the ADO request, she can still make another request. "It does not foreclose any future permission whether it is being secured again from the DOJ," she said. 'Discrepancies' De Lima said there were some "discrepancies" between the medical abstract the Arroyo camp sent to justify her ADO request and the letter-affidavit they earlier submitted. There was no need for Mrs. Arroyo to leave the country because she was recuperating well and has already been attended to by doctors here in the Philippines, the Justice chief noted. "Will it [denying ADO request] result in irreparable damage? Again the answer is in the negative," De Lima said. De Lima noted how Mrs. Arroyo kept on changing her destination in three letters she sent to the DOJ seeking an ADO. The letters were sent on Oct. 20, 21, and 24. According to De Lima, Mrs. Arroyo's original request was to go to the US, Germany, and Switzerland. In a subsequent request, the US and Switzerland were dropped and instead replaced by Singapore and Austria. In her third letter, the countries where she intended to go became Germany, Singapore, and Spain. "I cannot avoid being concerned that these countries have no existing extradition treaties with us," De Lima said, expressing concern over the Arroyo camp statement that she will have to seek treatment abroad "indefinitely." "This is something we cannot afford to take... that they will dictate the duration of her absence," De Lima said. — KBK/VS/HS, GMA News