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GMA allowed to travel overseas

A special court called the Sandiganbayan on Wednesday granted the petition of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to travel overseas, her first foreign trip following her release from four-years of hospital arrest in July.

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In a minute resolution signed by Chairman Jose Hernandez and Associate Justices Alex Quiroz and Geraldine Faith Econg, the anti-graft court ordered the former president to post a P300,000 travel bond and P90,000 travel bond for the former First Gentleman.

“She has every intention of returning to the Philippines to face the remaining charges against her and to clear her name”, Arroyo’s lawyers told the court.

Under the conditions set by the court, the Arroyos have to present themselves to the Clerk of Court of the Sandiganbayan’s 4th Division within 5 days from arrival from France, and from Hong Kong, along with their passports and photocopies of pages bearing the stamps of departure from and return to the Philippines.

After that, Arroyo will fly to Hong Kong to spend more time with her family on October 29 to November 4.

In 2012, the anti-graft court issued an order barring her from leaving the country without its prior permission while the cases are pending.

Another condition set by the court was that Arroyo should not visit other places not included in her itinerary.

In an earlier interview, Representative Arroyo said she plans to undergo stem cell therapy in Germany. She is suffering from a spine problem in the neck. In Hong Kong, she will attend a family reunion and also meet with the Filipino community there.

But she is still facing a graft case in connection with a scrapped national broadband deal with a Chinese company.

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This is the first time the former Philippine president will be traveling overseas, after the Supreme Court ordered her release last month following her four-year hospital detention in connection with a plunder case involving Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office funds.

House Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo