Mike A pleads not guilty in PNP helicopter deal

MANILA, Philippines - Former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo received yesterday permission from the Sandiganbayan to travel to Japan and Hong Kong next month.

He had to undergo conditional arraignment for his motion to be approved.

One of the conditions is that he would not be able to file a motion to quash.

Arroyo said: “Not guilty your honor,” when Sandiganbayan second division chairman Teresita Diaz-Baldos asked him to enter a plea on graft charges related to the purchase of allegedly overpriced second-hand helicopters for the Philippine National Police.

Arroyo’s lawyer Edna Batacan assured the court her client will leave the country on Feb. 3 and return on Feb. 10

“He is not a flight risk,” she said.

Batacan said the conditional arraignment was allowed without prejudice to an appeal before the Office of the Ombudsman questioning the  indictment.

“We are confident that we have a good case in the motion for reconsideration that we have filed,” he said.

“I’m staking my name here and my license that he would certainly come back.”

Batacan said the waiving of Arroyo’s right to file a motion to quash will not affect their defense.

“Mr. Arroyo is really not the owner of those helicopters sold to the PNP by Manila Aerospace Products Trading Corporation,” she said.

The Sandiganbayan Second Division found Arroyo’s motion to travel to be valid. He is going to Japan for a dialogue with the Association of Oversees Filipino Community in Tokyo.

His travel to Hong Kong  would be for the performance of duties as president of LTA Inc.