Palace passes buck on Gloria house arrest

With international scrutiny on the arrest of his predecessor, former President Gloria Arroyo, turning critical after a Brussels-based think tank branded her recent arrest and treatment thereafter as a show of vindictiveness, President Aquino through his spokesman said the Department of Justice-Commission on Elections (DoJ-Comelec) panel that filed an electoral sabotage case against Arroyo will have a free hand on the response to the petition of Mrs. Arroyo’s lawyers for her to be placed under house arrest.

European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS) vice chairman Dick Gupwell had said in a report from Brussels that the treatment being accorded Arroyo “is a question of vindictiveness and could result in a damaged democracy.”

“It does not pay really to be vindictive against a previous government,” Gupwell added.

The EIAS advises European Union institutions about developments in Asia.

Aquino’s deputy spokesman Abigail Valte said that it is beyond Aquino’s call on where to detain Mrs. Arroyo and added that Malacañang is giving the DoJ-Comelec panel a free hand on responding to the petition of house arrest in contrast to Aquino’s earlier assurances that the government would not oppose Arroyo’s arrest outside a detention cell.

It also contradicted the position of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo favoring house arrest for the former president.

“Being vindictive and bringing humiliation to the other fellow, I do not think is good for democracy in the long run,” he said.

“When it is your turn to lose office, the guy who takes over tries to teach you in the same way, dig up also the dirt that they could possibly find,” he added.

“Arroyo is now taking the wrath, revenge in a way. If people committed crimes they must be brought to justice but not in a humiliating way,” Gupwell said.

Valte disputed the EIAS assessment by describing it as a mere motherhood statement.

“I would certainly hope that that conclusion proceeds from an intelligent assessment of what has happened and it’s not just a motherhood statement picked up from a headline or something like that. This is not about vindictiveness, this is not about political persecution, this is about accountability,” Valte said.

Valte said that with the filing of charges against against the Arroyos, “ they will have their day in court” and would be able to defend themselves in court.

“Government is in a position to do so many things to abuse the power but that is not the style of President Aquino,” she said.

“From what we understand, the motion for hospital arrest has been withdrawn. They will be filing a motion for house arrest. The prosecution panel has taken a position and we, as the President said, will not comment or make our preferences known in the first place because it is in the discretion of the judge. And even the President himself has said that we would not like to influence the prosecution in any way and be accused of various things like railroading, exerting undue pressure,” Valte said when asked for Malacañang’s take on proposals to have Mrs. Arroyo detained in a regular detention facility.

Arroyo’s counsel last Friday asked the Pasay RTC to allow her to be placed under house arrest after she has been deemed fit to leave the hospital where she is staying.

Jose Flaminiano asked Mupas to place the former leader under house arrest instead of the current hospital arrest at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City.

One of Arroyo’s attending physicians, orthopedic surgeon Mario Ver told the court that the former leader could leave the hospital anytime after she was hospitalized for elevated blood pressure last week.

Ver said Mrs. Arroyo’s condition “continues to improve after undergoing three surgeries to correct a pinched nerve on her spine last August.”

A medical report submitted Thursday by the Philippine National Police (PNP) to Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo, signed by Senior Superintendent Herminigilda Salangad of the National Capital Region Police Office’s Regional Health Service, said the “overall assessment of Arroyo’s medical status has significantly improved.”

The 64-year-old Arroyo has been staying at St. Lukes since Nov. 15 after she and her husband, former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, were prevented by Immigration authorities from leaving the country ostensibly to seek medical treatment abroad.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, however, issued statements the other day that was blatantly meant to apply pressure on Judge Jesus Mupas of Pasay City regional trial court (RTC) who is handling the poll fraud complaint against Arroyo. De Lima warned Mupas against favoring a house arrest on Arroyo claiming that it may be perceived as giving the former president “special treatment.”

Both De Lima and Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, however, had said that the administration will not object to either a hospital or house arrest on Arroyo.

Robredo even said Arroyo will be allowed to choose where she wants to be detained. “If she asks that she remains in the hospital or she will be put under house arrest, we will not object. However if she will insist on leaving the country or even proceed to the airport, we will arrest her. It doesn’t even matter if she has a boarding pass or even is she is inside the airplane,” Robredo said.

“For as long as she stays in the hospital or maybe at home, we will not insist on bringing her to any detention facility,” De Lima said on the day an arrest warrant was issued on Arroyo.

Valte went on to dismiss the position of Robredo as a mere opinion of a Cabinet secretary which is not reflective of Aquino’s position. Because “ ultimately, it is up to the trial court judge to really decide.”

And while the DoJ-Comelec panel which has been converted into prosecution panel in relation to the electoral sabotage case against Mrs. Arroyo is a creation of Aquino, Valte maintained that the president cannot take orders from Malacañang despite the fact that the panel is practically an extension of the Office of the President.

“Technically, no. The prosecution cannot take orders from the President,” said Valte, stressing the Comelec is an independent constitutional body regardless of the fact that it has integrated itself in a probe body that secured its mandate directly from Aquino.

Valte claimed that Aquino allegedly did not want to meddle with the decisions made and being made by the DoJ-Comelec panel to avoid speculations that he is only trying to pin down the Arroyos.

She said that Malacañang has no mandate in determining on how and where to detain Mrs. Arroyo because this is a discretion exclusive to the court, but at the same time, claims that Malacañang would not stop the DoJ-Comelec panel from objecting to the petition of the defense panel for the former president to be allowed to be placed under house arrest.

Senate probers has decided to withdraw their earlier plan of calling the doctors of Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo to testify on her actual health condition, it was gathered yesterday.

Sen. Teofisto “TG” Guingona III said they will no longer ask Arroyo’s physicians to appear before them as they already attested before the Pasay City regional trial court (RTC) that the former president can already be discharged from hospital confinement.

The senator said that the blue ribbon committee which he chairs, has

has deemed the statement the doctors given the lower court sufficient for its own purposes.

“The doctors’ statement has clearly established the true and accurate medical condition of Arroyo. Dr. Mario Ver, her Orthopedic Spine Surgeon, has testified that she is physically fit to be treated as an out-patient. The committee has therefore decided that there is no more need to invite the said doctor,” Guingona said.

The senator along with Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III who heads the electoral reforms and people’s participation panel, are on top of the ongoing inquiry into the alleged massive cheating during the 2004 and 2007 elections.

He and Sen. Francis Pangilinan earlier announced plans of inviting the congresswoman’s physicians when they resume the proceedings next week to ascertain the real health condition of the former president.

Apparently, the senators are eyeing of calling on Arroyo in the succeeding hearings, based on the assertions made by Sen. Franklin Drilon.

“They’re probably thinking of whether they can summon former President Gloria (Arroyo) in the Senate in relation to the ongoing investigation that’s why they want to find out first her condition before inviting her to appear in the hearing,” Drilon explained in a radio interview.

It was, however, not clear whether indeed Arroyo will be among the invited guests in the coming hearings as Guingona made no mention of this plan.

Flaminiano, last Friday, said lawyers of Mrs. Arroyo are withdrawing their earlier motion for continued hospital arrest of Arroyo and instead asked the court for her to be placed house arrest.

This resulted in an argument as lawyers for the Comelec led by Maria Juana Vaneza countered that Mrs. Arroyo be transferred to a government hospital such as the National Orthopedic Center.

To end the verbal clash, Judge Mupas ordered a 10-minute recess to decide whether to grant the motion of the defense.

Two other physicians — Juliet Gopez-Cervantez and Roberto Mirasol — were not able to take the witness stand after Arroyo’s lawyer said the testimony of Dr. Ver is enough.

The court earlier summoned Ver, Gopez-Cervantez and endocrinologist Mirasol to shed light on Arroyo’s health condition and help the court decide on whether or not to allow the latter to remain under hospital arrest until she has fully recovered.

Arroyo’s legal spokesman, Raul Lambino, said they will respect whatever is the court’s decision even as he pointed out that the government earlier posed no objection to either hospital or house arrest.

“We are requesting a reasonable number of days for her to get her things at the hospital,” he said.

To formalize their request, Lambino said they would file next week a motion for house arrest.

For his part, Pasay RTC Branch 112 Clerk of court lawyer Joel Pelicano said the former president will remain in the hospital until the resolution of the motions of the parties.

In a related development, Pelicano said they will inspect on Monday the detention room prepared by the Southern Police District at its headquarters in Fort Bonifacio to see if it is suitable.

The room measures three by six meters and aside from a bed and pillow has no other furniture or amenities except for a kitchen sink with running water from a faucet and comfort room. Angie M. Rosales, Virgilio J. Bugaoisan, Daily Tribune