THE Supreme Court directed Justice Secretary Leila De Lima to comment on a disbarment suit lodged against her for defying a restraining order stopping the Justice Department’s travel ban against former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The SC told De Lima to submit her comment within 10 days from notice.

The disbarment petition stemmed from her order to the Bureau of Immigration stopping the former leader and her spouse Jose Miguel Arroyo from leaving the country despite a TRO issued by the SC against the DoJ’s watch-list order on the Arroyos.

Under the Rules of Court, any lawyer found violating the law as an officer of the court could be fined, suspended or stripped of his license in the practice of law.

De Lima had stood firm on her belief that Circular No. 41 and the watchlist order (WLO) she issued against Arroyo was legal.

”It (issuance of WLO) was not an abuse of discretion on our part. And I think the people would understand that,” she told reporters in an ambush interview.

De Lima however admitted that there was no law expressly granting her office the power to issue WLOs and hold departure orders, but she reiterated that her authority to issue a WLO was provided by the government’s police power under  Executive Order 292 (Administrative Code of 1987).