FIE – In this Aug. 28, 2017, file photo, former First Lady and now Congresswoman Imelda Marcos visits the gravesite of her late husband former dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City. A Philippine court found former first lady Imelda Marcos guilty of graft and ordered her arrest Friday, Nov. 9, 2018 in a rare conviction among many corruption cases that she’s likely to appeal to avoid jail and losing her seat in Congress. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)
Can former First Lady and Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos be released on bail like former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile once she goes behind bars?
“It depends on how they ‘dramatize’ her condition,” Senator Koko Pimentel told INQUIRER.net in a text message.
Earlier, Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said the PNP has to consider Marcos’ age and health condition once a warrant of arrest is issued. Marcos is now 89 years old.
In August 2015, Enrile was released after spending a year in hospital arrest when he posted P1.45-million bail bond over the multi-billion-peso pork barrel scam.
READ: Enrile out on bail, says his faith in justness of Judiciary vindicated
The Supreme Court on July 2016 later upheld its decision, citing humanitarian reasons as considerations in Enrile’s bail. The former Senate President was then 92 years old when the decision was issued.
“There was really no reasonable way for the Court to deny bail to him [Enrile] simply because his situation of being 92 years of age when he was first charged for the very serious crime in court was quite unique and very rare,” the court said at the time.
“To ignore his advanced age and unstable health condition in order to deny his right to bail on the basis alone of the judicial discretion to deny bail would be probably unjust,” the SC said.
READ: SC upholds ruling granting bail to Enrile
Two years after, Enrile, now 94 years old, filed his Certificate of Candidacy for senator. He reportedly said he personally went to the Commission on Elections to disabuse the mindset of the public that he’s “physically decrepit to run for public office.”
He said he wants to run again for senator to “join the fun.”
READ: It’s official: Enrile files candidacy for senator
Asked if Marcos can also use her age to avail freedom following her conviction, Pimentel said: “They can follow the Enrile case reasoning, di ba (right)?”
Marcos was sentenced to imprisonment of six years and a month up to 11 years for each count of her seven counts of graft. The Sandiganbayan said the former first lady can still post bail since graft is a bailable charge. /jpv