THE ongoing debate on whether or not former President now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should 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 constitutionalized in the Bill of Rights as on 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 with 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 (ADO) shall be vested exclusively in the proper court which will conduct a hearing after due notice to the parties concerned.