Nothing irregular about Arroyo’s arrest: Supreme Court
Saturday, November 19, 2011
MANILA — The Supreme Court (SC) sees nothing wrong with the issuance of arrest warrant against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that prevented her from leaving the country Friday.
SC spokesperson Midas Marquez, in a press briefing, said Judge Jesus Mupas of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) branch 112 did only what he thinks was proper.
“Perhaps, upon initial study, the judge thought that everything is proper. I can only surmise,” he said.
Arroyo, who ruled the country for almost a decade, was placed under arrest Friday afternoon after the Pasay RTC issued a warrant of arrest against her in connection with electoral sabotage in 2007.
The former President was accused of using government resources in manipulating the 2007 senatorial elections, where her bets scored a landslide victory in the vote-rich province of Maguindanao. She denied this.
However, upon the issuance of the arrest warrant, the South Police District took custody of Arroyo around 6:30 p.m. Friday. The warrant was served to the former President at her suite in St. Luke’s Medical Center-Taguig, where she is confined.
Arroyo is suffering from hypoparathyroidism and bone mineral disorder. These diseases reportedly made her bones weak and brittle.
Besides Arroyo, the arrest warrant was also served to ex-Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol and former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr.
Ampatuan is already detained at the Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City after he was linked to the gruesome murders of 57 people in a hilly village in Maguindanao last November 23, 2009.
Bedol, on the other hand, voluntarily surrendered last July in connection with the contempt case filed by the poll body in June 2007. He is currently detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) custodial center in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
The criminal charges against them were filed by the joint Department of Justice (DOJ)-Commission on Elections (Comelec) preliminary investigation committee, which conducted the preliminary investigation on the allegations of vote rigging in Maguindanao Province during the May 2007 elections.
The panel also recommended the filing of electoral sabotage charges against former Comelec commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, former justice secretary and former Team Unity (Arroyo’s senatorial ticket) lawyer Alberto Agra, among others.
Electoral sabotage is a non-bailable offense and carries a life imprisonment term.
Political allies of the former President accused the government of railroading plans to get hold of Arroyo since it took only a day to finish the process, from the filing of the information in court to the serving of the arrest warrant.
Ferdinand Topacio, counsel for Arroyo’s husband Jose Miguel, who was exonerated from the poll fraud allegations, earlier petitioned the SC to declare the panel that found the former President involved in poll irregularities as illegal.
He said the DOJ-Comelec panel was allegedly formed to prosecute “certain persons and incidents only,” including Arroyo.
But DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima denied that the issuance of the arrest warrant was done hastily.
“It is not unusual as I know it. There is a general rule that the warrant of arrest could be issued after filing a case especially if the court believes that there is probable cause,” she said.
De Lima also said the developments regarding Arroyo’s plan to seek medical treatment abroad “have become moot and academic.”
“Thus, Mrs. Arroyo is compelled to stay in the country and face the charges of electoral sabotage filed against her bringing us closer for uncovering the truth behind the controversies surrounding the 2007 election,” she said.
The DOJ chief said it is up to the court to determine whether Arroyo should be placed under house arrest or hospital arrest.
As of this posting Friday, Arroyo is still confined at the St. Luke’s hospital. Police authorities said earlier she will be allowed to stay there under her condition improves.
In a separate report, Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo said Arroyo will be accorded treatment befitting a former President.
“We have notified the family (about the warrant) because we will accord due respect to the former President and she is sick. Should she decide to stay in a hospital or at home, that will be considered,” said Robredo.
However, Robredo said the place of confinement of Arroyo will have to be approved by the court “but we will not object.”
“If that (hospital or house arrest) is requested, we will not oppose. The administration will accord proper treatment to a former President (and) because she’s not well,” he added.
De Lima warned, though, that if Arroyo insisted to leave the country, she will be arrested by the authorities.
“Rest assured that throughout the judicial process, the government will exercise fairness and impartiality and will uphold every right that Mrs. Arroyo as an accused is entitled to under the Constitution,” said de Lima.
She also said President Aquino, who is currently in Indonesia for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit, directed her to “treat the former President with utmost respect in consideration of whatever conditions she has.”
Meanwhile, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the House of Representatives cannot shield Arroyo from the electoral sabotage charges filed against her.
“The remedies would be within the judicial system, not the HOR (House of Representatives),” Belmonte told Sun.Star in a text message.
Arroyo’s ally in Congress, House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, said they felt “very disappointed” on the alleged railroading of the legal process.
“That is a precipitated action and the bullet train ruling seems to be part of the game plan to prevent Mrs. Arroyo from seeking medical treatment abroad. We are very disappointed,” he said.
House Deputy Speaker Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III, for his part, said the arrest warrant would allow the former President to finally answer the election-related charges against her.
For Senator Francis Pangilinan, an Arroyo critic, the issuance of the arrest warrant is a “victory for the cause of justice and public accountability.”
In a text message to Sun.Star, Pangilinan said authorities should now go on full alert “so the accused would not be allowed to flee.” (Virgil Lopez/Jonathan de Santos/Kathrina Alvarez/Jill Beltran/VR/Sunnex)
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/11/19/nothing-irregular-about-arroyo-s-arrest-supreme-court-191363
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