Former President and Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Detained former President and Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has filed with a Pasay City court an ad cautelam omnibus motion asking, among other things, that she be allowed to leave her hospital room to soak in the sunshine and to exercise while under detention.
“Ad cautelam” (as a precaution), refers to a document that is not necessary but is filed just in case.
Arroyo has been charged with electoral sabotage before the Pasay Regional Trial Court Branch 112, for allegedly conspiring to manipulate the results of the 2007 senatorial elections to favor her allies. She is now under hospital detention at the presidential suite of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City.
On Tuesday, Arroyo’s lawyers filed the omnibus motion asking that she be allowed to leave her room for at least an hour everyday so she can be exposed to the early morning or late afternoon sun, and to get in some exercise.
A medical certification from VMMC medical doctor Victoria Javier that was annexed to the motion validated Arroyo’s need for sun exposure because of a “Vitamin D deficiency.”
The motion sought for a reconsideration of a December 5 court order disallowing Arroyo from using cell phones or a laptop while under hospital detention. It also asked that Arroyo’s lawyers be allowed to use laptops and other electronic devices during their visits and consultations with her.
The motion asked that Arroyo be allowed to attend early morning Masses at the VMMC chapel, that she be allowed the use of a radio and television set. It also asked that the allowable period of visits be extended, from Wednesday to Sunday to Tuesday to Sunday.
The motion will be heard by Pasay Judge Jesus Mupas on Friday morning.
The motion was filed at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday just as court employees were returning from facilitating the detention of Arroyo’s co-accused, former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos, in a room at the Southern Police District headquarters in Taguig.
House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Wednesday said he was in favor of Arroyo being granted the use of communications equipment, but stressed that the matter was up to Mupas. Reports from Jaymee T. Gamil and Cynthia D. Balana