Citing plunder complaints as bases, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila de Lima placed former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on the Immigration watch list Tuesday evening.
De Lima said Watch List Order No. 2011-422 stemmed from the alleged anomalous sale of the old Iloilo airport property in 2007, the P550-million allegedly misused welfare funds for migrant workers, and the P1.6 billion supposedly diverted to her campaign fund in the 2004 presidential elections.
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Persons placed on watch lists must first seek DOJ clearance before they can leave the country, whereas a hold departure order is tougher because it automatically bars exit through international airports and seaports.
The watch list order against the former President is good for 60 days.
GMA News Online was unable to reach Mrs. Arroyo's spokesman on legal matters, Atty. Raul Lambino, for comment as of posting time. While the watch list order was still under study, the former President's camp assailed it as a form of political harassment.
Different teams of DOJ prosecutors are still conducting preliminary investigations on the plunder cases against the former leader.
The panels’ task is to determine if there is probable cause to file the criminal cases in court and push for Arroyo’s trial.
De Lima said she was supposed to issue the watch list order against Mrs. Arroyo last month, but opted to defer because the former President was abroad.
Days after she returned to the Philippines from Europe, Mrs. Arroyo was confined at the St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig City and underwent surgery to correct a damaged cervical spine. De Lima deferred anew the issuance of the watch list order "for humanitarian reasons."
Mrs. Arroyo is set to undergo another operation Wednesday after going under the knife two weeks ago to correct a pinched nerve in the neck region of her spine.
In a report on GMA News’ “24 Oras," reporter John Consulta said the former President is scheduled to undergo a five-hour operation at 7 a.m. Wednesday after doctors at St. Luke’s discovered that the titanium plate in her spine was dislocated.
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Mrs. Arroyo was discharged from the hospital last Friday, a week after the first operation.
Her attending physicians said the second operation is more risky but it was necessary because if they do not operate, Arroyo would develop complications that could numb her upper extremities or affect her breathing.
Dr. Juliet Gopez-Cervantes said the implants, which were inserted during the first operation, got dislodged for still unknown reasons. She said this second surgery will be “more difficult."
Doctors replaced four of Arroyo's seven cervical vertebrae with bone replacement and titanium implants. Gopez-Cervantes was unable to clarify in detail how the implants got dislodged but she did say some of the screws were not well in place.
Arroyo’s lead doctor said the former President would have suffered paralysis or nerve compression had she not returned to SLMC for the emergency operation. — With reports by Sophia Dedace and Andreo Calonzo/Bea Cupin/ELR/VS, GMA News
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