Allies want Arroyo home for Christmas

Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Allies of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will ask the court to allow her to spend Christmas at her La Vista home so she could enjoy the holidays with her family, particularly her grandchildren.

Quezon Representative Danilo Suarez said he and his colleagues in the minority bloc will ask Pasay City Regional Trial Court Judge Jesus Mupas to let Arroyo out of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) from December 21 to January 2.

“I think the court should consider our request in the spirit of the holiday. Christmas is a time for the family and, like all Filipinos, she wants to spend it with her apo, preferably at home,” Suarez said in an interview.

“We are all Christians anyway,” he added.

Suarez said that Arroyo had not been convicted and the judge had already agreed to hospital arrest for the Pampanga representative.

Arroyo was arrested on November 18 on charges of electoral sabotage. She is set to be transferred to the VMMC from St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City on Friday.

Suarez said he expects the government to block their request for a holiday break for Arroyo, but he believes the judge will be fair.

Meanwhile, the congressional staff of Arroyo is redoing the interior of the presidential suite at the VMMC in preparation for her arrival on Friday, a source told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on condition of anonymity for lack of authority to speak to the media.

“They are rearranging the room but using the old furniture that was used by former President Joseph Estrada,” said the source who was privy to the activity in the suite.

Estrada and his son, now Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, were detained in the same suite for three years while they were being tried on plunder and other charges.

The source also said that the repairs to the bathroom had not started. He added that no additional fixtures or furniture had been brought to the room. With Isa Avendano, Radyo Inquirer 990AM

Originally posted: 5:40 pm | Tuesday, December 6th, 2011