THE ongoing debate on whether or not former President now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be allowed to leave the country to seek medical treatment, underscores the need to expedite the approval of a measure granting the court the sole power to issue hold departure orders (HDOs)

In his letter to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., the main author of House Bill 5111, Minority Leader Edcel Lagman urged his colleagues in the House to include the bill in the priority measures.

According to Lagman, the right to travel has been institutionalized in the Bill of Rights as at par with the right of the accused to be presumed innocent until the contrary is proved.

In defending Arroyo’s right to travel, Lagman cited Section 6 of Article III of the Bill of Rights which states that “the liberty of abode and of changing the same within the limits prescribed by law shall not be impaired except upon lawful order of the court. Neither shall the right to travel be impaired except in the interest of national security, public safety, or public health, as may be provided by law.”

Meanwhile, the measure proposed that the issuance of the HDO or allow departure order  shall be vested exclusively in the proper court which will conduct hearing after due notice to the parties concerned.

Also, the measure states that the watch list order should not be the basis for holding or preventing the travel of an accused person unless there is an HDO duly issued with finality by the proper court.