Former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo on Friday decided to withdraw his motion that he filed before a Sandiganbayan division to be allowed to leave the country.

"I so manifest that the accused [Arroyo] is formally withdrawing the motion to leave to travel abroad," Mr. Arroyo's lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said  during a hearing at the Sandiganbayan Second Division on Friday.

The Sandiganbayan Second Division had issued a hold departure order against Mr. Arroyo after he was named one of 22 defendants in the alleged anomalous purchase of pre-owned helicopters by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in 2009.

On Friday, Topacio withdrew Mr. Arroyo's "very urgent motion for leave to travel abroad" after Sandiganbayan Second Division chairperson Associate Justice Teresita Diaz-Baldos pointed out that in order to grant the motion to leave, the former First Gentleman must enter a plea and therefore waive his right to file a motion for judicial determination of probable cause.

"Pagka na-waive namin [yun] mawawalan kami ng karapatan na hilingin sa hukuman na saliksikin... yung mga patotoo ng prosecution hinggil sa pagkaugnay ng unang dating ginoo dito sa chopper case na ito," he told reporters in an interview after Friday's hearing.

"Mas mahalaga po itong remedyong ito kaysa sa paglalakbay ng dating unang ginoo kaya po inatras na po namin ang amin motion [for leave] hindi na po siya bibiyahe bukas at dito na lamang siya sa Pilipinas," he added.

Mr. Arroyo was supposed to go to Japan and Hong Kong from June 16 to 21.

In a brief interview with reporters before the hearing, Mr. Arroyo said he will leave his fate to the court.

"If I cannot travel, I cannot travel," he said.

Meanwhile, the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division, where Mr. Arroyo is facing a separate graft charge over the $329.48-million botched national broadband network project with Chinese firm ZTE Corp., had approved for the second time his request to go on business trips abroad.

But he and wife former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, with former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos, had pleaded not guilty to the graft charges filed against them before the Fourth Division earlier this year.

The chopper case

In 2009, the PNP bought two second-hand Robinson R44 Raven 1 helicopters from the Manila Aerospace Trading Corporation (MAPTRA) at the price of brand-new choppers.

Last year, a report by the Senate blue ribbon committee said testimonial and documentary evidence proved that Mr. Arroyo was the real owner of the used helicopters sold to the PNP.

It said the choppers were supplied to MAPTRA by Lionair, which was supposedly acting on orders of the former First Gentleman.

Mr. Arroyo has denied owning the choppers and even threatened to file charges against Lionair president Archibald Po for coming up with "baseless accusations" during the hearings at the Senate. — LBG, GMA News