House panel OKs resolution urging Sandigan to grant Arroyo house arrest
Video by Ryan Leagogo/INQUIRER.net
The House committee on justice approved a resolution on Tuesday urging the Sandiganbayan to place former President and now Pampanga representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo under house arrest.
At the sidelines of the House ad hoc committee hearing on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), justice committee chair Iloilo representative Niel Tupas Jr. said that in an 8-1 vote, the panel approved the resolution based on “purely” humanitarian reasons.
READ: Arroyo now wants ‘home’ arrest in Pampanga
Tupas said that despite the approval of the resolution on the committee level, the authority to grant house arrest for Arroyo still rests on the Sandiganbayan.
“We just want to clarify that the resolution is non-binding on the Sandiganbayan. The authority rests to the Sandiganbayan. They are the ones who will decide on the issue,” Tupas said.
The Iloilo representative said that the Philippine National Police has cleared Arroyo of being a flight risk. Also, the former president’s doctors said that Arroyo is not responding to medications.
Tupas said that he sees the resolution being approved on the plenary.
“I also see that the plenary will approve the resolution,” he said.
The House Resolution 1908 which urges Sandiganbayan to grant house arrest for Arroyo was authored by Arroyo’s former justice secretary 1 BAP party-list Representative Silvestre Bello III.
READ: ‘Arroyo has turned frail, thinner in hospital, should be granted house arrest’
This was earlier opposed by Akbayan Representative Barry Gutierrez who said that this will sow public backlash and will paint a picture of a House of Representatives which “bends over backwards” for Arroyo.
Arroyo is suffering from cervical spondylosis, a degenerative disease of the bones and cartilage of the neck.
She is currently in hospital detention at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center due to a plunder charge. IDL
