Govt arrogance weakens democracy, Santiago says

Senator notes European criticism of President Aquino’s vindictiveness in prosecuting his predecessor

SENATOR Miriam Defensor Santiago on Sunday scolded Malacañang and its supporters for their arrogance toward the Supreme Court, saying they were damaging democracy in their rush to prosecute former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“Observers in Europe see that the Philippines [has] a damaged democracy,” Santiago said after an official of the European Institute for Asian Studies, vice chairman Dick Gupwell, called President Benigno Aquino III “vindictive” in his treatment of his predecessor.

“They are trying to call attention to and humiliate the person [Arroyo],” with the Supreme Court getting caught in the middle, Santiago said.

She said the call by her colleagues Franklin Drilon and Francis Pangilinan for Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona to inhibit himself from the cases involving Arroyo was a political attack that aimed to discredit the high court before the public. Drilon and Pangilinan’s call was matched in the House of Representatives by another Aquino ally, Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III, who urged Corona to resign.

“It’s a political attack against an institution that is not political,” Santiago said.

“The Supreme Court cannot defend itself in a political arena.”

Santiago called on the Palace’s allies not to be blinded by power as President Aquino had made it absolutely clear that his administration would only rule for a single term.

“They are very arrogant,” she said.

“Their appointments themselves are very temporary, and they will only be in power for six years at the most.”

Santiago also called the actions of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima as “exaggerated” and said she could have heeded the Supreme Court order and allowed Arroyo to leave the country.

“The government has all the powers to call back the former President whenever they want her back and attend the court proceedings,” she said.

The President [Aquino] has all the powers: police and diplomatic powers to bring back former President Arroyo wherever she is anywhere in the world.”

De Lima’s disregard of the Supreme Court was totally uncalled for and had set an irreparable precedent in the relations between co-equals in government, Santiago said.

“She [De Lima] should be a role model for lawyers but her actions suggest to young lawyers her low regard for law and the authority of institutions behind the law,” she said.

In his remarks, Gupwell said political vendetta always begot retribution, especially if those feeling persecuted rose or returned to power.

“She [Arroyo] is now taking the wrath, revenge in a way, Gupwell said.

“If people committed crimes they must be brought to justice, but not in a humiliating way.”

In the House, a staunch Arroyo ally said he would ask his colleagues in the opposition to push for a resolution supporting house arrest for the former President.

House Deputy Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said that would accord Arroyo the respect befitting a former head of state.

And in the first Sunday of Advent, Catholic priest Eliseo Mercado exhorted the government and the people to stop the “mob lynching” of the ailing former President.

“Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent, and I cannot help but ask the question why there is so much mob lynching of the former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,” Mercado said in a letter to all Catholic priests and members of the laity.

“No doubt … there is a public demand for blood and [Arroyo] has been demonized, as if she were the personification of evil.”

Arroyo’s lawyers have asked the Pasay City court hearing her electoral fraud case to authorize house arrest after one of her doctors, surgeon Mario Ver, testified that she was now recovering and could be treated as an outpatient.

Meanwhile, De Lima on Sunday denied that she pressured Pasay City Judge Jesus Mupas into denying the Arroyo appeal for house arrest.

“That’s not true at all. There is no such letter,” De Lima said. She denied the charge by Arroyo’s lawyer Ferdinand Topacio that she wrote Mupas to warn him against granting house arrest to Arroyo.

But earlier, De Lima had called on the judge to be careful in deciding on the request, saying the administration wished to avoid the perception that it was giving special treatment to Arroyo.

She asked the judge to carefully weigh both sides before deciding. With Rey E. Requejo, Maricel Cruz and Christine F. Herrera, Rey T. Salita, Manila Standard Today