Manila, Philippines – The Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) allowed yesterday former president and Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to visit the wake of her brother-in-law, Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo.
RTC Branch 112 Judge Jesus Mupas told the court server to serve his order to lawyers of Mrs. Arroyo that the court was allowing her to be at Iggy’s wake on Saturday provided that she would only stay from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Based on Mupas’s order, Mrs. Arroyo would then return to the Veteran’s Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) where she is currently confined.
But the camp of Mrs. Arroyo asked for a rescheduling and extension on the approved visit to the wake, which would be held at Iggy’s house in La Vista Subdivision in Quezon City.
Pasay RTC spokesperson Felda Domingo said Mrs. Arroyo’s petition to visit the wake was scheduled to be heard today from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Domingo said the Arroyo camp filed a manifestation yesterday which requested that the visit be moved and extended from March 1 to 3, during which Mrs. Arroyo would stay at her house also in La Vista Subdivision.
The manifestation was filed by the Arroyo camp after learning that Iggy’s remains would not arrive in Manila as scheduled on Friday night. Iggy died of heart attack in London last January 26, and litigation over who between his legal wife and common-law wife should have rights over his corpse delayed the repatriation of his remains.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec), which filed the complaint for electoral sabotage against Mrs. Arroyo, opposed the manifestation that Mrs. Arroyo’s approved visit to the wake be extended. The Comelec also filed yesterday a manifestation to oppose the extension to the visit.
The Comelec said that if Mrs. Arroyo is allowed to visit from March 1 to 3, and would be allowed to stay at her house in La Vista during the period, it would already be tantamount to a furlough, which was denied her even during the Christmas season.
The Pasay RTC scheduled the hearing on the new manifestations on Monday. (David Cagahastian & Jean Fernando)
