Junking of Arroyo case to benefit parties, candidates in 2019 polls — Macalintal

MANILA, Philippines — The junking of the electoral sabotage case against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will “surely benefit” all political parties and their candidates in the 2019 mid-term elections, especially in the senatorial race, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said Saturday.

Macalintal, Arroyo’s former lawyer, said the case was “based solely on her alleged statement to the public to ‘vote straight’ for her senatorial bets in the 2007 polls.”

The Pasay Regional Trial Court has cleared the now Pampanga congresswoman from the charge of electoral sabotage. She was accused of ordering, when she was President, then Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. to tamper the results of the 2007 elections in Maguindanao to reflect a victory sweep for the administration bets.

READ: Arroyo hurdles last legal obstacle as Pasay court junks poll sabotage case

Macalintal said Arroyo’s exoneration confirmed his previous position that there was nothing illegal or unlawful in campaigning for the entire slate of a political party or group of candidates “especially so that the Constitution allows (a) multi-party system in our electoral processes.”

READ: Youth group slams Arroyo acquittal from electoral sabotage case