THE Supreme Court is set to tackle today the petitions filed by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo seeking to declare as unconstitutional Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s placing them on the Immigration’s watch list (WLO) order.

The SC will also discuss Mr. Arroyo’s petition questioning the legality of the creation of the DOJ-Comelec panel to conduct the preliminary investigation into the poll fraud case against him and his wife.

The couple is seeking a restraining order against the implementation of Department Circular No. 41 which gives De Lima the authority to issue WLO and hold departure order.

Mr. Arroyo is also seeking the issuance of a TRO enjoining the DOJ-Comelec panel from proceeding with its preliminary investigation pending the resolution of his petition.

He argued that the panel has no legal authority  to conduct the investigation and described it as “a kangaroo court”.     

Mrs. Arroyo’s lawyer filed a supplemental petition before the SC yesterday challenging the travel ban imposed on the former chief executive by the justice department.

Former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza  argued  that  “there is no law which appoints the respondent justice Secretary Leila de Lima as the appropriate executive officer or administrative authority authorized to impose limitations on a Filipino citizen’s right to travel.”

Likewise DoJ circular No. 41 does not require that an applicant for an ADO must travel only to countries with which the Philippines has an extradition treaty, Mendoza said in the petition. “Thus, the respondent DoJ  secretary has added a requirement not found in her own department circular no. 41,” Mendoza explained.