Municipal mayors keep mum on Arroyo detention

MOST municipal mayors kept their opinions to themselves about the troubles of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

During the assembly of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) National Chapter at the Cebu International Convention Center, top officials said Arroyo’s fate is best resolved in the courts.

Their silence came amid reports that a Pasay City court allowed Arroyo, now Pampanga legislator, to remain confined in the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City until Friday this week.

“We want to comment, but we cannot and we won’t,” said Raymond Nazarro, Laak, Compostela mayor and LMP national chapter executive vice president for operations.

Cavite Mayor Strike Revilla, LMP national chapter president, and Bacoor, told reporters to ‘leave it to the justice system’.

“We have a justice system and we leave it to the justice system. Finding out if the cases she is facing are true, the court should discuss that,” he said.

Rather than focusing on Arroyo, Pasil, Kalinga Island Mayor James Edduba said the mayors are focused on fighting and finding ways to reduce poverty.

“We have some personal sentiments on this but the most important thing here is that we are in this general assembly to bind our mayors. Instead of talking about politics, we will concentrate on finding ways to reduce poverty,” he said.

Revilla agreed,saying their main concern is to unite the member-mayors.

“We want to help the national government…that’s why we are pushing for tourism and investments to pump up local economy,” he told reporters.

Lawyers of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have convinced the court to defer to Friday her transfer from St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City to the government-run Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City.

But Judge Jesus Mupas of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court Branch 112 said there would be “no more extensions” after he allowed Arroyo to stay for three more days beginning Tuesday at her luxury suite at the private hospital.

Under arrest since Nov. 18 on charges of electoral sabotage, the 64-year-old Arroyo was initially allowed to stay at St. Luke’s until Tuesday and move to the presidential suite at the VMMC, based on Mupas’ orders handed down last week.

But in a hearing Monday, Arroyo’s lawyers raised concerns about the bathroom of the VMMC suite, citing its slippery floor, the knee-high enclosure marking the shower area, and the lack of safety handrails and bidet for the toilet.

Jay Flaminiano, one of the defense counsels, presented photographs of the bathroom, saying its current condition could be hazardous to his client who is suffering from a bone ailment that affects her mobility.

At one point, the defense motion drew an objection from prosecutor Maria Juana Valeza, who said the renovation works stated by Flaminiano could be finished in just “24 hours.”

Arroyo should be brought to the VMMC “by Friday,” Mupas later ruled.

He also ordered the court sheriff to check on the progress of the repairs. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus with an Inquirer report