MANILA, Philippines - Back in a government hospital where she sought confinement yesterday, Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo again ended up a detainee after being served an arrest warrant for plunder – a non-bailable offense.
The arrest order was in connection with her alleged misuse of more than P360 million in intelligence funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
Members of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) served the Sandiganbayan-issued arrest warrant shortly after 3 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center where Arroyo was being examined for “generalized body weakness, numbness of hands and dehydration,” according to VMMC director Nona Legaspi.
Also ordered arrested were nine former officials of the PCSO and the Commission on Audit (COA).
Arroyo had been staying in her La Vista, Quezon City home since July after being allowed to post P1-million bail for her temporary release.
She had been under hospital arrest at the VMMC for eight months for electoral sabotage before a Pasay court allowed her to post bail.
When asked whether the former president would be staying for the night despite the arrest order, Legaspi said: “Yes, she is not discharged yet.”
CIDG-National Capital Region head Senior Superintendent Jigs Coronel said Arroyo was “very cooperative” when the police team arrived to serve the arrest warrant at the presidential suite. The team found her lying in bed and hooked to intravenous fluids.
It was in December last year when the former president was transferred to VMMC from St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City on orders of the Pasay City court.
A source said the processing and documentation of Arroyo included taking her “mug shots” and her fingerprints. The processing took about 40 minutes.
The same source said the presidential suite where she had stayed for months was also being prepared for her possible extended stay.
Coronel said doctors advised the arresting team that Arroyo’s “transfer and physical movement is not feasible at this time.”
“She will remain in confinement and is undergoing medical treatment. We will be going to return the warrant (to the Sandiganbayan). We will leave it up to the court on whether to issue an order for her transfer,” Coronel told reporters.
Coronel said no immediate member of the Arroyo family was present when the warrant was served.
He said only her lawyer Anacleto Diaz and spokesperson Elena Bautista-Horn witnessed the serving of warrant.
Legaspi said the former president had again complained of choking and neck pains but she stressed there would be no new medication for the congresswoman.
Palace welcomes order
At Malacañang, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said they were leaving it up to the Office of the Ombudsman to prosecute the case.
“It’s a decision rendered by the Sandiganbayan. We respect whatever decision they issued. It just shows that the government through the PCSO has presented a case, which has probable cause. And so, we leave it with the Ombudsman to prosecute the case,” Lacierda said.
“They themselves have found a prima facie case against the former president and the officials of the PCSO,” Lacierda said.
Asked if the PCSO case could be considered stronger than the electoral sabotage charges against Arroyo, Lacierda said: “I am not familiar with the details of the case. But I think there is evidence – I think marginal notes, on the basis of the marginal notes, which the former President was impeded.”
On Arroyo’s seeking reelection, Lacierda said: “We leave that entirely with the former president as to the state of her health, if she’s capable of campaigning on a daily basis. We cannot speculate on the condition of the former president.”
He dismissed insinuations that recent developments in her plunder case were related to her seeking reelection in Pampanga.
“I think when it comes to the case before the Sandiganbayan, it will be litigated based on the evidence that the government would be presenting through the PCSO. So I think it should be free from politics and should be solely based on the evidence that will be submitted,” Lacierda said.
‘Inhuman’
Opposition lawmakers assailed the arrest warrant on Arroyo with one of them, Siquijor Rep. Orlando Fua, even calling it “inhuman.”
“The pronouncements of President Aquino may have gone into the spines of the Sandiganbayan justices that she should not be allowed to seek medical treatment abroad,” Fua said.
“However you sweeten your campaign to incarcerate GMA, it will still be persecution, especially the passionate effort to eliminate her from the scene,” Fua said in a telephone interview.
“What is happening is inhuman. The Aquino administration’s campaign is to destroy and convict GMA in the eyes of the public, a frail old woman at that,” he said.
“There was hardly any hope that she would be able to acquit herself because of vindictiveness,” he said.
He recalled the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos allowed President Aquino’s late father and namesake to seek medical treatment abroad, even after he was convicted.
“Even abroad, GMA cannot do any harm. He (Aquino) would be congratulated for his conscience for his humanitarian act in spite of his crusade to rid the government of corruption,” Fua said.
House Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said they were surprised by the issuance of the arrest warrant, citing lack of evidence to charge Arroyo with plunder.
“But there’s really not much we can do, that’s a legal procedure,” Suarez said in a telephone interview.
He said he last saw Arroyo last week in her house in La Vista and they did not discuss her case.
“We just talked about the coming elections and other simple stuff. I just visited her,” Suarez said.
He called on his colleagues to help her press her request for medical treatment abroad. Suarez also asked the House leadership to defend Arroyo from “persecution.”
Appeal for compassion
At the Senate, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. called on the Sandiganbayan to reconsider its arrest order on Arroyo, considering her serious health condition.
“I believe that CGMA is not a flight risk and is in fact facing all the charges leveled against her in the proper courts. She is currently battling a serious ailment that threatens her life. I believe that these alone should merit the court’s attention,” Revilla, Lakas-CMD president, said.
“She is very sick. What she’s going through is no laughing matter,” he said in Filipino.
Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, for his part, welcomed the issuance of the arrest warrant.
“One can never escape the wheels of justice. The release of arrest warrant against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for plunder charges in relation to the PCSO fund scam only proves that the evidences presented in the Senate Blue Ribbon committee report on the PCSO fund scam are strong, concrete and sufficient,” Guingona said.
It was the Senate Blue Ribbon committee chaired by Guingona which looked into the alleged misuse of PCSO funds during the previous administration.
“This case should be a strong warning against those who are mishandling the people’s money,” Guingona said.
He pointed out that Arroyo never denied her participation in the approval of the realignment and release of huge amounts of money by the PCSO.
“The former president herself has not denied her participation in the release of huge funds… in the guise of intelligence funds. In Section 13 of our Bill of Rights, when evidence of guilt is strong in offenses punishable by reclusion perpetua, bail cannot be granted,” Guingona said.
“I am hoping that the truth will come out and the justice be served immediately. In order for the Filipinos to move forward, it is only fitting that we correct the mistakes of the past,” he added.
Earlier yesterday, Arroyo’s lawyers led by Diaz tried to stop the implementation of the arrest order by insisting there was no evidence to prove the allegations against Arroyo.
“Not one evidence was presented to show that Mrs. Arroyo received the money. The Ombudsman even conceded that GMA did not receive a single cent,” Diaz said during oral arguments on the case. “So how could there be plunder if there is no showing that GMA amassed, accumulated or acquired ill-gotten wealth?”
Sandiganbayan First Division magistrates, after hearing Diaz and the counter-arguments of Ombudsman prosecutors headed by Director Diosdado Calonge, said they would “take a second look” at their decision finding probable cause for the issuance of warrants of arrest.
But Associate Justices Efren de la Cruz, Rodolfo Ponferrada, and Rafael Lagos did not recall the arrest orders, which had already been sent to the PNP and the NBI.
Also ordered arrested were former PCSO general manager and vice chairman Rosario Uriarte; former chairman of the board of directors Sergio Valencia; former budget and accounts manager Benigno Aguas; former board members Manuel Morato, Jose Taruc V, Raymundo Roquero, and Ma. Fatima A.S. Valdez; former COA chairman Reynaldo Villar; and Nilda Palaras of COA’s Intelligence Confidential Funds Fraud Audit Unit.
Prosecutors said the accused took “undue advantage of their respective official positions, authority, relationships, connections or influence” to commit plunder.
Arroyo’s lawyers, hours after yesterday’s hearing, filed two urgent motions including one seeking to defer the implementation of the warrant of arrest, arguing that their motion for judicial determination of probable cause is still under appeal and that the former president is ill.
But just minutes after the pleadings were filed, the Sandiganbayan issued another one-page ruling denying finally in writing the motion for reconsideration of the finding of probable cause.
“After evaluating the oral arguments raised by the parties as well as the document submitted by Atty. Diaz in support of his aforesaid motion, the court sees no cogent reason to modify or disturb its aforesaid Resolution,” the First Division said.
“Wherefore, the oral motion made by Atty. Diaz this morning is hereby denied for lack of merit,” the Sandiganbayan said.
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