Court, not Palace, to decide where Arroyo should spend Christmas-Aquino aide

Former President and Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang sees no parallel between the government’s unilateral ceasefire in its battle with communist rebels and former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s request for furlough from detention at a government hospital to be able to spend Christmas with her family at home.

“She is undergoing the legal process for electoral sabotage. That is the rather huge difference with the case [the ceasefire] that they’re citing,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said on radio.

Still, Valte said, allowing Arroyo to be home for Christmas was not something the executive branch could decide.

“The court is already in charge. It is the court that has jurisdiction,” Valte said.

A lawyer of Arroyo’s said that if the government could allow rebels to be home for Christmas as a result of the suspension of offensive military operations, there was no reason to withhold the same privilege from a former head of state.

Arroyo’s lawyers have asked the Pasay City regional trial court to grant the motion for temporary house arrest for Arroyo from December 23 to January 2.

The prosecutors have opposed the motion, saying it was too much privilege other people in detention do not enjoy.

Lawyer John Rex Laudiangco argued that Arroyo could instead bring her loved ones to her detention at the Veterans’ Memorial Medical Center.

The magistrate has allowed Arroyo to leave her detention suite to get sunlight in the morning.