Pinoys puzzled by GMA’s ’secret trip’ to Colombia

by Michaela del Callar
from The Daily Tribune

Eyebrows furrowed at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) after its officers and staff learned that President Arroyo would make side trip to Colombia before heading for Brazil for a state visit. But no one among them could provide a definite answer on why Mrs. Arroyo squeezed her trip to Colombia in between her state visits to Japan and Brazil.

“There will be no official meetings. This is just a private visit,” a DFA source, who did not want to be identified, told the Tribune without elaborating. Other sources were one in saying that only members of the Arroyo family would join the President during her visit to the coastal city of Cartagena off the Caribbean.

Vera Files, which publishes in-depth reports on various socio-political issues, described Mrs. Arroyo’s trip as “secret” and reported that DFA personnel were taken aback that Malacañang had not disclosed to them the scheduled trip to Cartagena.

According to Vera Files, Philippines has no embassy in Colombia, although Colombia has an honorary consul in the Philippines in the person of former Miss International Stella Marquez-Araneta.

When it asked why the President was traveling to Colombia, Vera Files said a person close to Mrs. Arroyo and whom it did not name answered: “I am asking the same question.”

From Japan, Arroyo was scheduled to fly to San Francisco, California on Saturday for a brief half-a-day stopover before proceeding to Cartagena, Columbia on the same day for the private visit. She will leave Cartagena on Monday for her state visit to Brazil, the sources said.

DFA sources said Mrs. Arroyo declined to be accompanied by her official delegation during the visit to the coastal city of Cartagena off the Carribean.

Vera Files reported that while in Colombia, the First Couple would be the house guests of Jaime Augusto de Zobel and his wife Lizzie. In her first trip to Colombia, Mrs. Arroyo guested the Zobels’ house after she attended the 16th Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ summit in Lima, Peru in November 2008.

This is the second time that Mrs. Arroyo is visiting Colombia while on official trip.

After Colombia, the President will fly to Brazil for a two-day state visit on June 24 and 25 upon the invitation of the Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.

Her trip to Brazil is the first visit of a Philippine leader to the Latin American state. The highest ranking Philippine official to have visited Brazil was Mrs. Arroyo’s father, late President Diosdado Macapagal, who went to Brazil in 1960 when he was Vice President.

Bilateral trade between the two countries has significantly improved over the last four years. The Philippines has significant investments in Recife, in Swape port, with shipping magnate Enrique Razon as the principal investor.

Brazil is also the Philippines’ second largest trade partner in the Latin American region.

Both countries have also forged a Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of Bilateral Consultation Mechanism and the Protocol of Intent on Technical Cooperation in the Area of Agrarian Reform.

The Philippines and Brazil are also considered key movers in other regional fora such as the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), of which the two countries are members.

Mrs. Arroyo’s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, is traveling with her and this will be the first time (if ever he will be on the plane that will make a stopover in San Francisco, California) he will again set foot in the United States after his aborted trip to Lima, Peru with the president.

Last year, Mr. Arroyo was supposedly part of the Philippine delegation to the APEC leaders’ summit. While they were heading to California for a brief stopover prior to reaching Lima, Peru, Mr. Arroyo reportedly experienced abdominal pains that were later attributed to diarrhea and the presidential plane turned back and landed in Osaka, Japan, from where Mr. Arroyo was flown home to Manila for medical treatment.

Months after the APEC leaders’ summit in Peru, coffee houses buzzed with speculations about Mr. Arroyo’s aborted trip to Peru.

Vera Files said the political opposition hinted that Mr. Arroyo was intentionally avoiding the U.S. because, it said, American authorities had wanted to question him about his supposed investments in a number of giant American investment houses that had collapsed.

Mr. Arroyo, Vera Files, said, has not set foot on U.S. soil since, even for the celebrated boxing matches of Manny Pacquiao, of whom he is one of the top patrons.

Vera Files also recalled a side visit President Arroyo made to Washington D. C. in February. At that time, Mrs. Arroyo was en route to the Middle East but she made the side trip to the US capital to attend the National Breakfast Prayer where U.S. President Barack Obama was a speaker. The DFA, however, was informed of the change in itinerary, Vera Files said.

The other day, Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Amando Doronila, noting the President’ s frequent overseas trips, said she should start arranging for asylum in safe havens before the storm breaks out in Manila. Arroyo’s term ends in June 2010.