Pork barrel fund scam state witness Ruby Tuason has appealed to the Sandiganbayan to reconsider her denied motion to travel to the United States for a medical treatment.
The court’s Third Division said that it denied Tuason’s travel request because it did not specify the length of her trip.
In her motion for reconsideration submitted last Monday, Tuason said she has reduced the duration of her planned stay in the US to 32 days from March 22 to April 22.
“With due respect, accused Tuason moves for the reconsideration of the resolution and herein provides the specific details of her accommodation while in the United States of America,” Tuason said.
Tuason said she plans to stay with her son, Francis Damian Tuason, in Las Vegas from March 22 to 28. The same is true for April 18 to April 20 while waiting for her flight back to the Philippines.
She added that she will then stay with her niece, Ana Marie Simonet, from March 28 to April 28 in Los Angeles, California while waiting for her scheduled medical treatment.
Tuason also attached a letter from the Ombudsman signed by Special Prosecutor Edilberto Sandoval granting her request to travel.
“Accused Tuason humbly manifests that even the Ombudsman found her request be reasonable and her expression to return to the country sincere and credible,” Tuason said.
“Accused Tuason humbly moves that the resolution be reconsidered considering the difficulty of setting up an appointment with the UCLA eye medical expert and the worsening of her eyesight brought about by her medical condition,” she added.
Tuason asked the anti-graft court’s permission to trave to the US from March 22 to May 5 for for a Descemet’s Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty (DMEK).
Tuason’s length of stay in the US as well as her failure to provide the court with specific itinerary of his trip moved the Sandiganbayan to deny her motion to travel.
Tuason sought the permission to travel for the DMEK procedure, which according to her doctors, is not done in the Philippines; after she has been diagnosed to be suffering from “corneal decompensation/corneal edema of the right eye secondary to a low endothelial cell count that has decreased below the threshold for normal function.”
Tuason said she was supposed to be admitted at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Hospital. She stated in her motion that she will stay at the residence of her son in Las Vegas, Nevada after the hospital procedure.
Tuason is facing 97 counts each of alleged violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents in the Malampaya case.
