Arroyo lawyer: PNoy admin spreading asylum rumors

The camp of former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo on Thursday denied rumors he and his wife, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, have sought political asylum in the Dominican Republic. In a statement, Arroyo lawyer Ferdinand Topacio maintained that the former First Couple are prepared to face the string of charges the Aquino administration has leveled against them. "We categorically deny that the former First Couple are holders of Dominican Passports, nor have they sought political asylum in any country. The First Gentleman has never been to the Dominican Republic," he said. However, Topacio confirmed in the statement that Mrs. Arroyo had been to the Dominican Republic. The Arroyos have no intention of applying for passports or residency in the Caribbean state. "They maintain their allegiance to the Philippines, where they definitely intend to return if allowed to leave, to face squarely the preposterous trumped-up charges against them," he said. Earlier reports have it that a ranking embassy official of the Dominican Republic in Manila personally handed to Mrs. Arroyo her passport. Topacio blamed the Aquino administration for spreading the asylum rumors, saying the current administration may be veering attention off the watch list orders against the Arroyos. 'Mental asylum' for rumor mongers "Realizing that the placing of the Arroyos on a so-called Watchlist Order stands on legal quicksand, and facing widespread disapproval of the same by legal experts and public officials from a broad spectrum of the political rainbow, the Aquino Government is desperately resorting to circulating rumors in order to hide the truth," Topacio said. The Arroyo couple was earlier placed under an Immigration watch list in connection with an electoral sabotage investigation by the Department of Justice and the Commission on Elections. The Arroyos are challenging before the Supreme Court not only the watch list orders but also the DOJ circular upon which they were based, saying the orders were a violation of the couple's constitutional right to travel. "[The asylum rumor] is but the latest in a long line of lies being peddled in order to muddle the issue regarding the violation of civil and political rights of the Arroyo Family," Topacio said. He lashed back at those circulating the rumors, even those whom he claimed were members of Aquino official family. "Those responsible for circulating these false rumors, and the members of President Aquino’s official family, should be the ones to seek asylum – mental asylum – for their recent official acts which are an affront to the Constitution and the norms of human decency," Topacio said. — VS, GMA News