Yesterday, our country witnessed a battle between two components of our democratic government system – the Executive and the Judiciary. When the former First Couple tried to leave the country yesterday bearing the Supreme Court’s TRO (temporary restraining order) against DOJ’s Watch List, Sec. Leila De Lima immediately went into action and barred their departure. It was a circus at its best! Throngs of media surrounded the hapless Former President as she entered the NAIA Terminal 1 riding in a wheelchair and clad with braces to keep her frame in shape. Despite all the hassle, in the end, her party had to concede to the adamant Bureau of Immigration officials and return to the hospital.
Former President and now Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband, Mike Arroyo are being charged for various cases of plunder as well as cheating on the 2004 National Elections. Amid these charges, GMA contracted an illness in her cervical spine which prompted her party to seek medical treatment abroad after the failed operation by her doctors in St. Luke’s Hospital. But the DOJ headed by Sec. Leila De Lima and supported by the Office of the President will have none of that. They placed GMA and her husband under a Watch List Order and prevented them from leaving the country. Further, PNoy offered that the government would spend on bringing any specialist they so desire into the country just to prevent them from leaving.
Yet GMA’s party appealed to the Supreme Court for a ruling against the WLO (Watch List Order). Which, they successfully got yesterday. Majority of the Supreme Court justices, most of whom were appointees of GMA herself, ruled in favor of the TRO (hmm..fishy?). It was released yesterday and armed with that, GMA’s party immediately went into the airport and demanded that they be allowed to travel via Dragon Air and leave the country.
What followed next was entire mayhem! Sec. De Lima insisted she hasn’t received a copy yet of the TRO and that she had instructed the Immigration officials as well as NAIA personnel to prevent GMA and her husband from leaving the country. They were under her direct orders. The Supreme Court ruling said that the TRO was in effect immediately, and any attempt to block it will result in contempt. But Sec. De Lima was not afraid of that. She further insisted that upon receiving the TRO, they are still entitled to file a motion for reconsideration.
But GMA is in a hurry. As per her lawyer, Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, her appointment with the doctors in Singapore was today and she was trying to leave the country yesterday to allow her at least one more day of rest before the checkup. GMA’s party insisted that they had already complied with all the requirements of the TRO which is to (1) issue a bond of P2M; (2) have a legal counsel present in the Philippines; (3) report to the Philippine Consulate in every country they visit. They further insisted that GMA is not in any way going to evade the Philippine government. She’s merely seeking treatment.
Continue reading “Executive vs Judiciary: The Ultimate Circus”
