‘Mike A in SF with family, not LA, to help Bolante’

The office of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo denied rumors yesterday that he was in the United States to help former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, who was arrested in Los Angeles last week for a cancelled visa.

Mr. Arroyo’s chief of staff, Juris Soliman, said Mr. Arroyo went straight to the United States from Spain to join his son Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, who was in San Francisco with his daughter Mikaela Gloria.

"When we first heard of the news (of Bolante’s arrest), I said ‘Oh no, I think I know what’s coming next’, " Soliman told The STAR. "So we were somewhat expecting that this kind of talk is going to happen but we’re just laughing this off."

She said there’s "nothing secret in his trip to the US, everything’s open."

Bolante, whose visa was canceled by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, is detained at San Pedro Detention Center in Los Angeles. It was not clear why his visa was canceled.

Some radio stations reported yesterday that they have been receiving text messages saying that Mr. Arroyo was in the US to help Bolante, who reportedly needs $100,000 for bail bond.

Last year, the Senate issued an arrest warrant for Bolante for failing to show up at an inquiry investigating the alleged diversion of agricultural fund subsidies to Mrs. Arroyo’s 2004 presidential campaign kitty.

Bolante left the Philippines for the United States last December after senators summoned him for an explanation. He was eventually cited for contempt after missing five Senate hearings on the issue.

Soliman explained that Mr. Arroyo remained in Spain to trace his roots with daughter Luli after joining the President’s official visit there, the Vatican and Italy last month.

Luli, she said, remained in Spain while the First Gentleman proceeded to San Francisco to join his son and granddaughter.

"His trip to the US is a family affair," Soliman said. "I hope critics would not abuse the First Gentleman on this issue."

President Arroyo’s husband has periodically been a lightning rod for opposition attacks against her and is repeatedly accused of being an influence-peddler working behind the scenes under his wife’s protection.

He had allegedly influenced several government transactions and appointments.

In June last year, the President announced on television that her husband had volunteered to go on self-exile abroad to avoid corruption accusations and criticism that could eventually hurt her presidency.

Her husband left the following month with their eldest son, Juan Miguel and his family. He returned in late October.

When her husband left for self-exile, Mrs. Arroyo was beginning to battle with allegations that she cheated in the 2004 presidential election after she owned up to improperly calling an election official during the vote count.

The accusations were compounded by allegations that her husband, son, and brother-in-law, Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio Arroyo, took payoffs from illegal gambling barons.

In 2003, Sen. Panfilo Lacson accused the First Gentleman of keeping secret local bank accounts under the alias Jose Pidal.