Mike Arroyo quietly leaves for Japan

A week after the Sandiganbayan allowed him to travel to Japan, former First Gentleman lawyer Jose Miguel Arroyo silently left Manila for Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific flight CX 904 early morning Thursday. Reporters covering the Ninoy Aquino International Airport reported seeing Mr. Arroyo at the departure area at the NAIA Terminal 1 at about 3:45 a.m. Wearing a blue suit and pants, Atty. Arroyo walked casually, without escorts, towards initial security screeners and then proceeded to the business class check-in counters. In less than five minutes, a Cathay Pacific ground staff handed his boarding pass, a report said. He then proceeded to the immigration counter and presented his passport, ticket, departure card and a copy of the allow-to-depart order (ADO) from the Sandiganbayan, the report added. It said, Arroyo was able to pass through immigration check in less than five minutes after presenting his ADO. Atty. Arroyo's embarkation card at the Cathay Pacific flight indicates that he is billeted at Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, where the Arroyos regularly stay when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was still president. A hold departure order was issued against the Arroyos in connection with the allegedly anomalous national broadband network deal with China's ZTE Corp., which was later scrapped by former President Arroyo. On April 25, the Sandiganbayan allowed Atty. Arroyo to travel to Japan to meet with prospective Japanese investors.   The anti-graft court's Fourth Division slated his travel from May 3 to 10.   An earlier report said Arroyo was to go straight to Japan then proceed to Hong Kong for a brief rest before returning to the Philippines.   Earlier, Atty. Arroyo's lawyer Edna Batacan said the former First Gentleman's Japan trip was upon the invitation of a group eyeing investments in hydroelectric power in the Philippines.   "We assured the court he's coming back after a week to face the charges against him," she said in an interview on dzBB on April 25.   The Ombudsman had asked the Sandiganbayan to junk the former First Gentleman's request to travel abroad for absence of specific purpose and urgency.