Philippines’ Arroyo to challenge arrest

Former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo must have looked pitiful in a neck and body brace while being served an arrest warrant in her hospital room for electoral fraud charges last weekend.
But the arrest, which happened out of public eye, titillated many Filipinos who have been waiting for retribution for alleged abuses during her nine-year tenure as president that ended last year. ‘I am so happy with the news,’ said Elvie, a migrant worker in Bahrain who called a Manila radio programme discussing Arroyo’s arrest. ‘I am very glad to see that the laws are again working in the Philippines.’
‘Congratulations to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and to President Benigno Aquino III,’ added another caller. ‘They did good for the country.’
In Vancouver, Jamie Louis said its time the country get back the millions allegedly plundered by the former president and her family.
“I don’t know what it is about the Philippines…but the last two ex-presidents have got arrested,” said the hospital worker.
BAYAN Canada, a group of Filipino organizations in Canada said in a statement : “the recent arrest of former president Arroyo only came after she twice attempted to leave the country, manipulating her appointees in the Supreme Court to overturn any decision on her travel ban. We are certain that no action would have been done had there been no uproar from the people. Still, the charges of fraud falls short of holding her accountable for her role, as commander-in-chief, in the more than one thousand political killings under her administration and the various graft and corruption scandals involving her family.”
Arroyo, now a member of Congress, has been under investigation since August for alleged election fraud, accepting bribes and kickbacks, and other irregularities during her administration.
Last Friday, the Commission on Elections filed a case of electoral sabotage against her at the Pasay Regional Trial Court in Manila.
She became the second former president to be arrested for criminal charges. Her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, was sentenced to life for corruption after being ousted, but was pardoned by her.
Police said Arroyo was allowed to stay under ‘hospital arrest’ due to weak health. One officer described her state as ‘pitiful.’
The 64-year-old former president has been wearing a neck and body brace since August after doctors failed to fix a pinched nerve causing her extreme pain when she moves.
She also suffers from high blood pressure, hypoparathyroidism and bone mineral disorder, according to her doctors.
Arroyo’s ailing health did not temper the excitement of some about the possibility of seeing her behind bars.
‘I feel a little bad for her, but what happened is karma getting back at her,’ said a bus driver named Edwin. ‘It’s payback time for her cheating and betrayal of the Filipinos.’
Electoral sabotage is non-bailable and punishable by life imprisonment.
Arroyo’s camp assailed the charges as a stunt to stop her from leaving the Philippines to seek medical treatment abroad for hypoparathyroidism and bone mineral disorder.
Her lawyers denounced the ‘indecent haste’ that the charges were filed and the arrest warrant was issued by the court.
But an informal survey by a television news programme showed more Filipinos believed that she should be tried for alleged wrongdoings.
‘The message is clear for all government officials that if they do anything wrong, there will be consequences,’ said Amado Valdez, dean of the College of Law of the University of the East.
Arroyo, a US-trained economist, first became president in 2001 when Estrada was deposed by an insurrection.
High hopes were pinned on her administration as she vowed to rid the government of corruption and abuses, and promised transparency.
But Arroyo turned out to be a great disappointment and many Filipinos considered her to be the nation’s most corrupt leader, worse than the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Her biggest crisis erupted in 2005 when the opposition released wiretapped conversation allegedly between her and an election official about rigging the 2004 vote to ensure her re-election.
The electoral fraud charges allege that she and her allies also manipulated the results of the 2007 congressional election to favour candidates of her administration.
Arroyo’s administration was also notorious for failing to stop a wave of political killings in the Philippines, including the massacre of 57 people in November 2009 allegedly masterminded by close political allies.
Meanwhile, lawyers for former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo challenged her arrest on charges of electoral fraud this week, they said.
Ferdinand Topacio, one of the Arroyo family’s lawyers, said the former president’s team ‘will be filing several motions’ to challenge the charge of electoral sabotage.
‘She feels she’s been unjustly treated,’ he said. ‘This case has obviously been rushed. I can’t understand how a judge could assess the voluminous records of the case in a matter of hours.’
On the weekend, dozens of leftist activists rallied outside the hospital to demand that Arroyo be detained in a regular jail instead of a private medical facility.
The demonstrators carried placards that read ‘Jail Arroyo!’ and denounced what they called special treatment being given to the 64-year-old former president who is now a member of Congress.
President Benigno Aquino III promised that Arroyo would ‘have an equal opportunity to defend herself in court’ and go through the same process that any Filipino would face when on trial.
‘This is just the start of the process,’ he said upon arrival from Bali, Indonesia where he attended an annual summit of South-East Asian leaders.
‘We are all working for a new Philippines, one where there is equality, where whoever does wrong, whatever his status in life may be, is punished, a country where justice rules,’ he added.
Aquino’s spokesmen said the government would not oppose ‘hospital arrest’ for Arroyo.
Arroyo has been wearing a neck and body brace since August after doctors failed to fix a pinched nerve causing her extreme pain when she moves.
Her doctors said the former president was also suffering from hypertension, loss of appetite and a bacterial infection.