Akbayan Party today called on the public to enforce their own hold departure order to prevent former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from "evading justice."
Akbayan Spokesperson Risa Hontiveros called on the public to express their outrage against the eight Supreme Court justices who granted a temporary restraining order on the watch list orders issued against the Arroyos by the Department of Justice.
"I guess it's all up to the people to enforce its own 'hold departure order' against the Arroyos. As such, we call on the public to mount political actions and other mobilizations near major airports and seaports to see to it that the Arroyos are prevented to escape accountability for their crimes."
Akbayan Representative Walden Bello expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the high court's decision. He called the decision as "debilitating in the efforts to curb corruption".
"The eight Supreme Court justices may be of the opinion that the Arroyos can leave the country, but for the Filipino people, Arroyo shouldn't be given the privilege of just evading her crimes very easily. We have to keep watch against their escape masked as medical treatment abroad."
SC requirement for Arroyos to report to embassies "useless"
Another Akbayan lawmaker also called the requirement of the Supreme Court that the Arroyos report to the Philippine embassies of their respective destination as "practically useless.
"Whether or not they even report to our embassies is inconsequential since they would already have been outside the country," Rep. Kaka Bag-ao said.
Hontiveros said that "now is the time that we must stand in indignation against this decision.
"We've done it before in toppling a brutal dictatorship, now we must use it to hold the Arroyos accountable for her crimes. Now, it seems, justice lies in the collective action of our people."
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