Thursday, November 10, 2011
FORMER President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is reportedly trying to evade prosecution from high crimes by fleeing to Dominican Republic, a developing country in Central America which honored her economic expertise last May.
But Justice Secretary Leila De Lima declined to confirm the unverified report, which came out after the government recently denied Arroyo’s request to seek medical treatment abroad for her bone mineral disorder and hypoparathyroidism.
"I received a text message on that but I don't where that information is coming from. Still, we are verifying that information and other information that are coming in. It is something that we cannot ignore but also we could not announce further without verification," she told reporters.
A newspaper column on Wednesday said Hans Dannenberg, Ambassador of the Dominican Republic to India, personally delivered asylum papers to the former president on October 25.
The Philippine has no extradition treaty with the Dominican Republic.
De Lima said they will seek confirmation from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) but this early, an official of the agency could not claim veracity on the matter.
“Sorry, I don’t have any information on this,” DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez told Sun.Star.