Palace dismisses Arroyo threat to disbar DOJ chief

Malacañang on Saturday dismissed the threat by the camp of former President Gloria Arroyo to have Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima disbarred for publicly discussing an unverified text message about Arroyo’s supposed intentions in going abroad. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the threat “is part of the noise that’s going around. What is the focus of this issue? Before, it’s medical treatment, now it’s legal, now it has turned into an issue against Sec. De Lima," she said on government-run dzRB radio. She advised the Arroyos to wait for the courts to decide on the petitions they filed to allow Mrs. Arroyo to go abroad and seek medical help. Earlier this week, Mrs. Arroyo and her husband separately asked the Supreme Court to declare as unconstitutional De Lima’s order placing them in the Immigration Bureau’s watch list. “They filed the case in court, hintayin natin ang magiging resolution (let’s wait for the court’s resolution)," Valte said. Valte also rejected suggestions to gag De Lima for discussing unverified information in public. She said De Lima “discussed" the matter of asylum because she was responding to a question posed by a reporter. “At that point De Lima was categorical in saying the information of asylum was unverified," she said. Meanwhile, Valte declined to comment on the former First Gentleman’s move to question the legality of the joint Department of Justice and Commission on Elections (DOJ-Comelec) team probing alleged poll fraud during the 2007 elections. “They just question everything. That is their prerogative but for now, the joint probe continues," she said. — LBG, GMA News