MANILA, Philippines - A showdown looms today between the Supreme Court (SC) and Malacañang as the country’s top magistrates gather in full session before noon to tackle the controversy stoked by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s plan to leave the country.
Executive officials are also preparing to file in court the first of a series of criminal cases against the former president.
A Palace official who requested anonymity said the first case to be filed against Arroyo is likely to be for electoral sabotage, a non-bailable offense. Arroyo is also under investigation for plunder, another non-bailable offense.
“The issue here is legal versus political,” said the official.
Arroyo’s spokesperson had said she would make another attempt to catch a flight to Singapore today despite Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s declaration that the former president would be barred from leaving. Pandemonium broke out at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Tuesday night when the Arroyos tried to board a Hong Kong-bound flight.
De Lima has said she is “ready and willing” to be jailed for contempt, specifically for allegedly defying an SC temporary restraining order (TRO) on the DOJ’s travel ban on Arroyo.
The Palace official said President Aquino called for a meeting at 7 a.m. yesterday before leaving for Bali, Indonesia for the 19th ASEAN summit and instructed his legal and political advisers to “take care of the situation.”
The official said “we are encouraged by the results of various surveys on the issue, which are overwhelmingly in favor of President Aquino’s stand not to allow the Arroyos to leave the country.”
De Lima said yesterday the President has reaffirmed his support for the DOJ’s position vis-à-vis the TRO. She said Aquino’s instruction, before he left for Bali, was for her to “always do whatever is appropriate.”
“He (Aquino) told us to assess the situation and then come up with an appropriate plan of action, depending on the developments,” she said.
She also downplayed alleged impeachment moves by pro-Arroyo lawmakers at the House of Representatives. “Let’s not talk about that yet... too premature,” she said.
De Lima also stressed she was merely asserting the “right of the state” and not putting two branches of government into a collision course with her continued defiance of the high court’s TRO.
“We do not want that to happen, we are not aiming for that to happen,” De Lima told reporters when asked if she thought her action would cause a constitutional crisis.
She said the dissenting opinion of SC Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio delved on the right of the state to be heard on the issue.
The SC issued the TRO on Tuesday or ahead of the oral argument on the issue, originally scheduled on Nov. 22.
“I always believe that each case is different, has its own unique set of facts and circumstance, has its own context, so what may be applied to one or what may be ordinarily applied to ordinary cases may not be considered as applicable in cases like this because it has its own context. That’s what they have to realize,” De Lima said.
She stressed she is prepared to deal with the threat of contempt from the SC.
“I will face that charge, I will respond to that in the proper time. I’m sure the Supreme Court would also give me due process, I would be asked to respond, that’s the usual process, I think they will ask me to show cause why I should not be cited for contempt. I’m prepared to answer that in due time,” De Lima said.
“They say I’m defying the Supreme Court because I did not recognize their TRO. We firmly believe we cannot yet recognize that TRO because there is pending motion for reconsideration,” she said.
“The very purpose of a TRO is to prevent something from becoming moot and academic,” she pointed out. By issuing a TRO, the justices in effect are already allowing Arroyo to travel, she said.
“Since we have a pending urgent MR (motion for reconsideration) which will be tackled tomorrow (Nov. 18), my directive to the BI (Bureau of Immigration) stays and that is to prevent or bar the Arroyos from leaving,” she said.
“We will defend the power of the Department of Justice to issue a watchlist order… It’s not a defiance at this point because we filed a motion for reconsideration,” the DOJ chief said.
Meanwhile, it will be even harder for the Arroyos and their entourage to leave the country today as airline companies are now under instructions from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines not to allow the former first couple to board their aircraft.
The directive is contained in Memorandum Circular 15-11 signed by CAAP director general Ramon Gutierrez.
“The CAAP is requesting the utmost cooperation of all concerned in the implementation of the Watch List Order (WLO) issued against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former first gentleman Jose Miguel T. Arroyo,” Gutierrez said.
He said it is unlikely for private jet operators to offer help to the Arroyos since doing so would mean cancellation of their licenses, including those of their pilots.
Police role
The Department of the Interior and Local Government, for its part, is consulting with its legal experts on the appropriate response the police should take if ordered by the SC to implement its TRO.
“The role of the PNP (Philippine National Police) is to help the clerk of court serve (the court order) and this would be referred to the chief PNP and I think he would be given legal advice,” Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said.
“There is a need to clarify this or the police would be in a dilemma. It is important that we refer this to those who can give (the PNP) advice about the law,” he added.
He stressed that it is the role of the judiciary to serve any court order and it’s the task of the police to provide assistance.
“There would be clarification that would come from our lawyers so we would know the right thing to do,” Robredo said.
“We’re asked to ensure order in case there are developments. Second, we were asked to monitor the developments. The Supreme Court will have a special en banc session and there would be actions from both parties. We’ll make sure that these actions would be respected and both sides would be allowed to express their views,” he added.
Aquino was supposed to leave for Bali last Wednesday but delayed his departure by a day so he could further monitor developments.
Vice President Jejomar Binay, meanwhile, expressed confidence that the action of the executive branch would not lead to a constitutional crisis.
“Maybe it won’t lead to that. Maybe we are getting to be alarmist. How can there be a crisis when both sides continue to deliver their explanations?” Binay said.
Binay acknowledged that each lawyer has his own interpretation of the law. “The developments here would always be in his (Aquino) mind,” he said.
Support from House
Congressmen-allies of Aquino expressed support yesterday for his administration’s “extraordinary political will” in preventing the Arroyos from leaving the country.
In a resolution, Aquino’s allies said the decision to bar the Arroyo couple from leaving the country “is in line with the President’s covenant with the Filipino people to be the nation’s first and most determined fighter of corruption.”
“President Aquino has a social contract with the people to transform the false sense of justice from one which money and connections can buy to a truly impartial system of institutions that deliver equal justice to rich or poor,” they said in the resolution.
Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada, Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, and Representatives Joseph Emilio Abaya of Cavite, Irvin Alcala of Quezon, Henedina Abad of Batanes, Mel Sarmiento of Samar, and Walden Bello and Kaka Bag-ao of the party-list group Akbayan authored the resolution.
Except for Bello and Bag-ao, the authors belong to the ruling Liberal Party, whose titular head is President Aquino.
The authors said they would get their colleagues to sign the resolution on Monday.
“It will hinder the turning of the wheels of justice and trivialize the efforts of the current government in the fight against corruption, as well as render the case (on the right to travel of Arroyo) pending before the SC moot and useless,” they said.
“The nature of TROs is to require the temporary enjoining of an act and the preservation of the status quo prior to the resolution of a case, not to render it moot,” they said.
They called on the House to express its support for the administration, pointing out that its actions “are intended to serve the ends of justice.”
“Flight is an indication of guilt and the act of fleeing under the cover of ostensible judicial order is an abuse of the legal process and a malevolent twisting of the law and the legal process,” they said.
“The Filipino people have the right to know the truth regarding the grave allegations that former President Macapagal-Arroyo faces. They have the right to hold public officials who have wronged the country accountable,” they stressed.
For his part, Rep. Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna lauded De Lima for “using everything at her disposal to prevent GMA from leaving, to the point of courting a legal showdown with the high court.”
“Anyway, there is no urgency for GMA to leave the country, save for her rush to flee from the charges filed against her. De Lima is well within her rights to exhaust all legal and administrative remedies to uphold the interest of justice,” he said.
Another administration ally, Rep. Joseph Victor Ejercito of San Juan, said he was about to change his strong opposition to Arroyo’s foreign travel “for humanitarian reasons.”
“But after the commotion at the airport, I am now questioning the motives of the Arroyos even more. I am now more in doubt as to the motive of their insistence to leave the country,” he said.
He said the TRO “may be legally correct, but it is contrary to the people’s will.”
Junk TRO
Militants led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), meanwhile, are set to gather today outside the Supreme Court on Padre Faura in Manila to press for the withdrawal of the TRO.
“We have to make it known to the SC that the people want Arroyo to be made accountable and that there are valid concerns she is trying to evade justice. We oppose the issuance of the TRO which many believe was unnecessary and was issued in haste,” Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes said in a statement.
“The withdrawal of the TRO is the proper thing to do now,” he said.
“Let us not forget the crimes of the former president which include human rights violations along with plunder and electoral fraud. There is no assurance she will return,” he said.
“We find no comfort in her P2-million bond nor with attorney Ferdinand Topacio’s offer of his testicles. There are no assurances or strong guarantees provided even by the SC that Arroyo will indeed return,” he added.
Reyes said that if it upholds the TRO, the SC would have to impose tougher conditions on Arroyo to compel her to return.
But while the administration’s determination to keep the Arroyos in the country is commendable, Aquino officials should “exert all efforts to file the necessary cases against GMA in the proper courts at the soonest possible time.”
“The burden of prosecuting GMA lies with the Aquino government. Criminal complaints have been filed. The public is waiting for these cases to be filed in court, with Aquino being in power for more than a year now,” Reyes added. With Jess Diaz, Rhodina Villanueva, Rudy Santos, Cecille Suerte Felipe - By Christina Mendez and Alexis Romero
