De Lima: TRO Deserves a Hard Look

Last night was one of the CRAZIEST moments that could happen in the Philippines. It started when the Supreme Court (SC), the court who has the last say in everything, decided to give a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to the DOJ's travel ban against the Arroyos. See, the Arroyos been facing a lot of investigations since President Aquino took over the office. Electoral fraud is just one of the many things that they’ve been investigating, and I can tell you, there’s a lot—which includes the tax evasion case the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) filed to Mikee Arroyo (Gloria Arroyo’s son). So, for the past 6 months, the Aquino administration’s been investigating the former first couple—Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) and his wife Mike Arroyo. Then GMA got sick (not sure if she’s in great danger but who cares?), and decided to seek medical treatments abroad. But, with the ongoing investigations, the current administration is doing all the power that they could do to stop them from travelling. Pretty easy since they can just give an order to put the Arroyos in the watchlist—or those people that needs watching would they try to go out in the country, basically, to stop them. Then last night happened.

Around 3 in the afternoon, the SC ruled over the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision over stopping Arroyo from travelling. As there are no cases filed against the former first couple, then there’s no reason to hold them up. But the TRO also came up with 3 conditions: (1) to give a bond of 2 million Pesos; (2) to stationed a legal representative for the Arroyos and (3) to report to the Philippine consulate in every country that they will be visiting—if there’s one. Arroyo’s representative was fast enough to give the 2M bond—as expected since they are in so much hurry to leave the country (which they denied, BTW). Also, around 5 or more bookings were traced for the former first couple—a bit dodgy, don’t you think? The bookings made by his son Mikee Arroyo were all missed by his parents. 

What happened? Well, the first 4 bookings were too early. SC ruling was only announced around 3 in the afternoon. But the whole “high drama” happened when the Arroyos arrived at the NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) at approximately 8 in the evening. They are supposed to board the plane for the 8:90 flight departure. You could see Arroyo transported in an ambulance with a wheelchair and a face mask. BAAAA! But anyway, Arroyo’s representative Horn (according to her), as it is an SOP to give you’re passport to the immigration officer, she gave it to a man who asked for their passports. But what happened was that the man never returned their passports—hence forbidding them to get through the gate. The Arroyo’s were held up on the VIP lounge and what’s more shocking was Leila De Lima (DOJ’s secretary) decided to go against the SC’s TRO. As a result, the Arroyos weren’t able to go out in the country—but they get to keep their passports as it were returned to them.


Okay. In my opinion, the Arroyos can travel (let’s not talk about who deserves it—civil rights) given that the SC—the highest court in the Philippines, much more powerful than Aquino’s minions and Aquino himself—decided to give the go-signal to them. Let’s faced it, not one case was filed. What do you expect? That’s the law. You can’t just hold up a person without giving a good reason as why you’re stopping him. Yeah, DOJ has the authority to bar someone from travelling but who gets to say what in the end? The thing is, De Lima is questioning the validity of the SC’s decision. Eight of those who voted RE: Arroyo travel right were her appointees, 2 were on leave and 5 voted no—3 were appointed by Aquino. Battle of the former and current presidents’ appointees, that’s what’s happening. I would say that she (De Lima) was right in saying that she needs to have a copy of the TRO first before she can allow the Arroyos to travel. But she also said that they needed to file a counter affidavit and so, they (Arroyo’s) should wait until the SC can rule that one out—which I’m not for it a 100%.

If Aquino’s minions just filed a single case to GMA, then we wouldn’t be discussing this now. Unfortunately, they didn’t. And even though I am an anti-Arroyo, the SC beat De Lima with regards to technicalities. Whatever the reason behind every judge’s decision, it doesn’t matter. They've decided based on the laws at hand. And no one, even Aquino, should do away with it. I’m just troubled that the immigration officers even commanded the plane to fly without the Arroyos. Yes, they have the power to stop someone from leaving the country but to meddle with something like that is just unspeakable. Had they not market their investigation so much to the public, they could have filed SOMETHING in the court.

 Whatever the reason behind the GMA’s behind the very much publicized “sickness” doesn’t matter. The SC’s ruling should be the last and the highest decision as the basis of all actions. And when I say all, it means EVERYTHING. The Aquino administration better have their defense ready because GMA, from the looks of it, is winning the public sympathy.

Update: Arroyo will be trying to fly again tonight. Ooooh, this is gonna be exciting!


Update 2: The Arroyos rescheduled their bookings tomorrow. Let's wait and see. 


Update 3: GMA's blood pressure is fluctuating. No announcement whatsoever for their departure.