Antonio C. Abaya - Diarrhea in the Air

It was Columnist Lito Banayao who first raised the question of why the chartered Philippine Air Lines Flight 001, carrying President Gloria Arroyo and her party to the APEC Summit in Lima Peru last Nov. 21, was diverted in mid-flight six hours after leaving Manila and made to detour to Osaka, Japan.

The First Gentleman, Mike Arroyo, was said to have suffered "severe stomach pains and vomiting" – subsequently diagnosed as infectious diarrhea - and, although there were doctors on board, it was decided to unload him in Osaka so that he could receive emergency medical treatment in a hospital.

PGMA is said to have waited for Mr. Arroyo's physicians to arrive in Osaka from Manila (in a San Miguel Corporation HS-125 executive jet) before proceeding to Lima, causing her to miss most of the first day's agenda of the Summit.

Columnist Banayo quotes an unnamed "friend" who asked: "Was it a case of the presidential party being alerted by phone that someone among them was going to be picked up by authorities upon landing at Los Angeles airport for money-laundering activities?

"Remember that in the wake of Lehmann Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG and so many other Wall Street corpses, the federal anti-money laundering task force may have found the smoking gun documents about the financial capers of someone in the presidential plane.

"That would have been a terrible embarrassment, because no one else in the party aboard PAL Flight PR 001 was important enough to merit a reason to retreat and fly back except the President or her husband…."

Frank Wenceslao, president of an organization called Philippine Anti-Corruption Movement USA has a different take:

"GMA, husband and their children are reportedly barred to enter the US by virtue of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the Bush administration's 'No Safe Haven' policy to deny kleptocrats to enjoy the fruits of corruption.

"The (First) Family's last visit when the policy was specially lifted was when Ambassador Kristie Kenney thought that the MOA on Ancestral Domain would push through and the US could negotiate a bases agreement with the Bangsa Moro.

"GMA's US visit (last October) was only allowed for a head-of-state attending UN-related conferences or meetings.

"It is out of protocol (that) Mrs. Arroyo is allowed to come to the US, but not her husband. There is a report that Atty. Arroyo's emergency landing in Japan happened when the presidential party learned (that) his request for (a) US visa wasn't granted, and he really needed (one) for a stop-over in Los Angeles.

"Mike Arroyo might suffer what happened to Joc Joc Bolante and be detained…."

I do not know which version, if either one, is accurate: was Mr. Arroyo about to be arrested in LAX for money laundering, or was his request for a US visa denied and he was going to detained, like Joc Joc Bolante before him, for having an expired US visa. I tend to doubt that Mr. Arroyo would leave for LAX without a valid US visa.

As for money laundering, in my article US Capitalism Implodes (Sept. 22, 2008) I speculated if "the reason President Arroyo suddenly left for New York yesterday (Sept. 21) was to look after her family's investments in the suddenly nationalized AIG (American International Group). Illicit funds parked in AIG would now be subject to US anti-racketeering RICO laws…."

But both Columnist Banayo and Crusader Wenceslao did not mention a significant fact: namely, that six hours out of Manila, in a non-stop 12 hour flight eastward towards LAX, PAL Flight 001 would have been within or near a triangle described by Wake Island, Midway Island and Hawaii, the first two US territories, the third a state in the American Union.

In case of a medical emergency situation – and I have no doubt that Mr. Arroyo needed emergency help - the most logical place to make a stop would have been Honolulu, about an hour and a half or two hours away from where the plane was when the decision was made to land and rush him to a hospital.

Turning back to Osaka suggests that the party deliberately avoided US territory – for either of the reasons suggested by Banayo and Wenceslao, or for another reason unknown to us.. Stopping at Honolulu also would not have delayed PGMA's trip to Lima as much as the stop-over in Osaka did.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno was quoted as saying that "Six more hours to reach LAX! There was no way we could wait that long. I think the precautions taken were warranted. It is very hard to take risks with anyone's life." What risks would there have been in landing in Honolulu, aside from the two suggested by Banayo and Wenceslao?

Why the presidential party seems to have deliberately avoided US territory should be the subject of a Senate investigation, not to determine if Mr. Arroyo really suffered from infectious diarrhea, but to salvage what is left of our national self-respect.

Is it really true that Mr. Arroyo was about to be arrested by authorities in LAX for money laundering activities? We have a right to know.

Is it really true that President Arroyo has been black-listed by US authorities and may set foot on US soil only for UN-related meetings and conferences? We also have a right to know.

The key element to ascertain in such a Senate investigation would be the exact location of the aircraft when the decision was made to make almost a 180-degree turn to Osaka. This can be extracted from the pilot, co-pilot and navigator under oath, with the understanding that perjury would cost them their licenses.

It can also be verified by the aircraft's voice and cockpit recorders, as well as by the electronic records of the Los Angeles and Osaka control towers, all of which, presumably are beyond being corrupted by Filipino politicians and their lackeys.

Once the exact position of the aircraft has been established, the question of why the presidential party sought to land in far-away Osaka, and not in nearby Honolulu or other US airport , has to be answered satisfactorily.

PACQUIAO MANIA. Not being a boxing aficionado, I did not find time to watch the celebrated match. But I join in the national celebration of Manny Pacquiao's victory over Oscar de La Hoya.

Pacquiao is now an authentic giant in his field of expertise, with tangible and convincing evidence of his superiority, compared to whom the pretentious President Arroyo is only a pygmy. (With apologies to the pygmies.)

I hope Pacquiao will have the humility to admit to himself that he knows absolutely nothing about the parliamentary system of government, and will resist the efforts of Kampi (the party of predatory pygmies) to make him the Poster Boy for Parliamentary to help the predatory pygmies remain in power beyond 2010.

Reactions to tonyabaya@gmail.com. Other articles in www.tapatt.org and in acabaya.blogspot.com.

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