DoJ to decide on ex-president’s travel request after All Saints’ Day

FORMER president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal – Arroyo cannot leave Monday for her planned medical treatment abroad as the Department of Justice has not granted her request for a travel permit.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima explained that she sought the assistance of Health Secretary Enrique Ona in evaluating the medical abstract submitted by Mrs. Arroyo before deciding whether or not to approve the former president’s application for an allowed departure order.

Mrs. Arroyo is facing plunder and poll fraud cases at the DoJ.

De Lima explained that she would need the expert advice from Sec. Ona on the issue of whether or not Arroyo really needs medication abroad and if such need was urgent.

De Lima had not received any response from Ona as of closing hours of government office yesterday prompting her to defer making her decision after the long weekend holiday break on Wednesday November 2.

She said she did not want to make such an important decision during the holiday break when there will be no government office.

The DOJ chief admitted that the request of Mrs. Arroyo to leave the country at the onset of the preliminary investigation into the electoral sabotage charges against her compels her to make a “tough decision.”

She believes it involves a clash between national interest in the dispensation of justice and humanitarian consideration for an ailing former leader.

As early as yesterday, she was told that not allowing Mrs. Arroyo to seek treatment abroad would be an “unchristian and inhumane act.”

De Lima belied the allegation of the Arroyos that the treatment being accorded to them by the Aquino administration was “worse than (during) Martial law.”

“This is all about justice and accountability,” she said.