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Manila: A court in Metro Manila on Saturday issued an arrest warrant for Corazon "Dinky" Soliman, an ally of President Gloria Arroyo until last year before they had a political estrangement. The suburban Quezon City issued a warrant for the arrest of Soliman, Arroyo's former social welfare secretary, in connection with a libel case filed against her by a lawmaker in August last year. Rep. Rodante Marcoleta of the party-list group Alagad had filed the case after Soliman accused him of conspiring with the Arroyo administration. Soliman made the claim after a series of dramatic resignations from the Arroyo Cabinet. Soliman, who was also the president's high school friend, is currently out of the country in Cambodia. Nominal
Soliman said in a statement the latest move "is a clear form of harassment by the government." In his libel case against Soliman, Marcoleta had asked for a nominal 1 peso (Dh.067) in damages. Soliman was one of Arroyo's favoured political and personal allies until last year. On July 8, she claimed she heard the president order her political adviser, Gabriel Claudio, on June 27 to tell Marcoleta to endorse an impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Oliver Lozano against Arroyo. "The complainant suffered damages on account of this unfounded statements but asks only for a pittance of 1 peso to emphasise the gravity of the criminal aspect of the complaint rather than the damages being prayed for," Marcoleta said. He explained that his endorsement of the complaint was meant to clear up the issue of alleged breach of public trust by Arroyo.
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