Iggy's remains to be repatriated

MANILA, Philippines - Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo’s remains are expected to be repatriated from London next week pending results of his autopsy and completion of clearance procedures from hospital authorities, Arroyo’s congressional chief of staff said yesterday.

Edgar Ruado, Arroyo’s chief of staff, said many documentary requirements, including clearances from the London Clinic, and other procedures need to be completed before the lawmaker’s remains could be flown back to the country.

An autopsy was also conducted on Arroyo in compliance with local laws, he added.

Ruado said Grace Ibuna, Arroyo’s partner, was rushing yesterday to complete documentary requirements, as well as coordination with the Philippine embassy since it was the last working day of the week.

Ibuna was with Arroyo in a rented apartment in London when he suffered a heart attack and went into a coma shortly after midnight on Thursday.

Ibuna said Arroyo had been put on life support at the London Clinic after being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance at 11 p.m. on Wednesday (about 7 a.m. Thursday Manila time).

“It all happened so fast,” she said.

Ibuna was at Arroyo’s bedside at the London Liver Clinic, where he was taken after cardiac arrest.

After being resuscitated and placed on life support, Arroyo, 60, was declared “clinically dead” and subsequently taken off the machine.

Ruado said one of Arroyo’s daughters, Bianca, was expected to arrive in London from Las Vegas yesterday to help bring home the body.

Ibuna’s sister was also on the way to London, he added.

Other family members could not go to London because of strict visa requirements, he said.

Ruado said Arroyo’s other daughter Dina cannot travel yet as she had just given birth in Manila. Bianca and Dina are Iggy’s daughters with the former Marilen Jacinto.

Their marriage has been annulled.

Ibuna, on the other hand, has a daughter with actor Gabby Concepcion, singer Gabrielle “Garie” Concepcion.

Alicia “Aleli” Rita Morales-Arroyo, the legal wife of Arroyo, appeared in an interview on the GMA-7 news program “24 Oras” crying after learning of the demise of her estranged husband.

Aleli said their 14-year-old daughter was “deeply affected” by her father’s death.

GMA News reported that Arroyo and Aleli got married on March 26, 1994.

They were then neighbors at La Vista, an exclusive subdivision in Quezon City where the Arroyos live.

But the couple split up and filed for annulment, which remains pending up to now.

Arroyo spent the last few years of his life with Ibuna, who was living with him in an apartment in Kensington West, London, where they had been staying since October last year while he was undergoing treatment.

ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau chief Danny Buenafe tried to interview Ibuna but his request was denied.

Buenafe reported that Ibuna is in a “state of shock” following Arroyo’s death.

Anemia and low sugar level due to diabetes were among the listed ailments of Arroyo, Buenafe reported.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. assured Alicia Arroyo, the lawmaker’s wife, that he would help her secure a visa for London after he received a text message from her requesting his assistance.

The House is preparing to hold necrological services for Arroyo at the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City, Belmonte and Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said.

Special polls

A special election in the 5th district of Negros Occidental can be held after the House of Representatives declares Arroyo’s seat vacant, the Commission on Elections said yesterday.

However, Belmonte sees no need to hold special elections.

“I think we have passed the midway mark (of the congressional term) and I think before that it was advisable to have an election, but after that, it may no longer be feasible to have one because by the time it is done, the congressman’s term would be nearing its end (in 2013),” he said.

The Comelec would need at least three months before it could conduct a special election, Belmonte said.

Belmonte will act as caretaker of Arroyo’s congressional district until he has designated somebody to take over.

Majority Leader Gonzales said the House will pass a resolution declaring the vacancy in the 5th district of Negros Occidental.

They will inform the Comelec about it, he added.

James Jimenez, Comelec spokesman, said a special election must be held one year before the scheduled midterm polls in May 2013.

“In case a permanent vacancy shall occur in the Senate or House of Representatives at least one year before the expiration of the term, the Commission shall call and hold a special election to fill the vacancy,” reads Section 4 of Republic Act 7166, the Synchronized Local and National Elections.

Under the law, a special election shall be held not earlier than 60 days nor more than 90 days after the occurrence of the vacancy.

Arroyo, a brother of former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, went to London in October 2011 to seek alternative treatment for his liver ailment.

He was already in his third and last term as a member of the House. – Paolo Romero, Marichu Villanueva, Sheila Crisostomo, Danny Dangcalan