Filing court charges will break impasse

Something’s gotta give in this Malacañang-Arroyo standoff. And it need not be that voluble lawyer’s, er, nuts. In the end law and order must prevail. Not public drama or declamation.

Whichever side the watcher was on, the events have been riveting. Hours after the Supreme Court voted 8-5 to allow their flight, Mike and Gloria Arroyo arrived at the airport. It didn’t matter that Justice Sec. Leila de Lima had ordered immigration and airline personnel to offload them. The SC had spoken; its temporary restraining order was superior to the Department of Justice’s hold-departure order. The couple was billed to leave for Hong Kong, the first leg of the ex-President’s supposed medical treatment abroad. They had posted the SC’s condition of P2-million bond for their return, and so waved copies of the TRO. Nobody could stop them, declared three spokesmen and three congressmen-pals.

It’s not clear if the Arroyos really intended to leave, or just to play up their situation. An aide had arranged for VIP side-door entry and other subtle courtesies to a former President and sitting congresswoman. But with 20 pols and aides in tow, they arrived through the front gate, where newsmen were waiting with cameras and mikes. Straight they went to the check-in counter of Dragon Air, not her usual first-class airline. As well not her usual travel attire, Mrs. Arroyo’s sleeveless dress showed her arms to have thinned, likely from lack of appetite. Reports have it that she is in constant pain and stress, after three cervical spine surgeries. She had developed hypoparathyroidism, and wanted bone biopsy abroad. So donning a halo vest and surgical mask, she came in an ambulance and strode on a wheelchair. Take pity on her, aides shrieked.

Still Immigration barred Arroyo’s departure. De Lima had not formally received a copy of the TRO, and so her old HDO stayed. Plus there was her order to offload Arroyo at all costs, since the DOJ was to appeal the TRO upon getting a copy. Arroyo returned to the St. Luke’s Hospital and checked into her usual Room 1667. Allegedly her blood pressure had shot up, so was too weak to retry to leave the following two days.

All these prompt the SC to convene today in en banc. Up for discussion are three motions: by de Lima for reconsideration of the TRO, by Arroyo to advance the oral arguments, and by her allies to punish de Lima for contempt.

The government will argue that it never violated Arroyo’s rights to travel and to see her doctor of choice. Treatment abroad is not urgent. No less than her submissions say so; her application for leave from the House of Reps included attendance in political conferences in America. Moreover, bone biopsies and, alternatively, bone scans can be done in-country.

To be cited too is Arroyo’s being a flight risk. She is facing charges, five for heinous plunder and two for heinous election sabotage. Still under preliminary investigation by the Ombudsman or the DOJ, the charges have yet to reach the court. But the justice secretary has power to put a citizen on travel-watch. This is specified in DOJ Circular No. 41, issued three weeks before Arroyo’s term ended in June 2010, by her last justice secretary Alberto Agra. Agra’s predecessor Raul Gonzalez had his own version, used in 2006 to bar six congressmen from traveling abroad. Interviewed recently by investigative journalist Raissa Robles (raissarobles.com), Gonzalez affirmed that the DOJ could hold a citizen who is undergoing inquest, prior to court indictment.

Allies counsel that de Lima’s strongest play would be to elevate the charges to court and let it bar Arroyo’s departure. But that would take long, given the country’s slow judicial process. To this day, one of the six principal accused in the Ampatuan massacre of 2009, not to mention 98 conspirators, have yet to be arraigned.

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During the Senate hearings on DBP’s alleged behest loans to Roberto Ongpin, the corporate name Red Vulcan kept coming up. The state-bank’s former CEO Rey David mentioned it several times to typify bridge financing extended to buyers of big government assets. Did he bring up RV calculatingly to unnerve Sen. Serge Osmeña, the instigator of the inquiry? Osmeña is married to a Lopez, and it turns out that RV is owned by the Lopez Group. By sly implication, Osmeña may be barking up the wrong tree or his inquiry could backfire on his Lopez in-laws. That PR operatives spread outside the hearings spicy news bits about other Lopez firms’ borrowings fans suspicion of a diversionary ploy. At any rate, the Lopezes reportedly are incensed at being dragged into the fray. They also made ready RV’s loan papers for press scrutiny.

RV is a subsidiary of the Lopezes’ First Gen that bought in 2007 the state’s shares in Energy Development Corp. Part of the government sale offer then was a P30-billion bridge financing, guaranteed by the finance department to the winning bidder. Approved by the Bangko Sentral, the money was to come from the DBP, Land Bank, and ING. Three other conglomerates with foreign partners joined the bidding: the Aboitiz Group with P33.16 billion, San Miguel Corp. with P39 billion, and the Gotianun Group with P48.52 billion. First Gen, with Prime Terracota Holdings and Spalmare Holdings-Netherlands, won at P58.5 billion — P11.5 billion more than the floor price.

Eight days after winning the bid, RV fully paid the government for EDC, using the bridge financing and First Gen cash. It did not speculate in stock prices or enter into a sweetheart deal, the Lopezes say. RV never considered selling EDC shares; in fact the Lopez Group increased to 46 percent its initial 40-percent stake in RV.

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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ, (882-AM).

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