Arroyo not discounting possibility of staying in regular jail, says her aide

Elena Bautista-Horn INQUIRER PHOTO

Former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is not discounting the possibility of eventually staying in a regular prison cell.

However, only the court can order her transfer from Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City to a jail facility while on trial, according to her spokesperson, Elena Bautista-Horn.

“(Arroyo critics) should go to court. Only the court can tell the former President where she should stay, not the doctors in the hospital,” Horn said at a press conference at the Manila Hotel.

The Pasay City Regional Trial Court ordered last month that Arroyo, who is charged with electoral sabotage, a nonbailable offense, be placed under hospital arrest at the government-run VMMC because of her bone ailment.

Dr. Nona Legaspi, VMMC director, said on Wednesday that Arroyo was no longer ill.

“The former President always tells us—we will follow the directives of the court,” Legaspi replied when asked if the Arroyo camp was preparing for the possibility of the former President being transferred elsewhere.

Horn acknowledged that Arroyo was in a stable condition and needed no further operation.

“She is undergoing PT (physical therapy) every day … and maybe it’s not for the medical director of a hospital to (decide on Arroyo’s detention),” Horn said.

She lamented the restrictions that were imposed on detainees like Arroyo.

“She’s OK, but of course, she’s cut off from the rest of the world. She has no computer and cellular phone although she’s a sitting congresswoman. But we respect the decision of the court, so we follow it,” Horn added.

On Wednesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) recommended the indictment of Arroyo for two counts of technical malversation in connection with the  alleged misuse of P546 million Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) funds in 2003.

Plunder pushed

The migrants rights group, Migrante International, on Thursday said Arroyo and several others should have been charged with plunder for the Owwa fund transfer in 2003.

In a statement, Migrante spokesperson Connie Bragas-Regalado said that while the group  welcomed the DOJ decision to file two counts of technical malversation against Arroyo and others, they should have been charged with the more serious offense of plunder.

“Arroyo and her cohorts should be charged with the other more grave and serious complaints of plunder and corruption for her deliberate misuse and abuse of Owwa funds. We feel that Arroyo et al. are not getting what they fully deserve,” Regalado added.

Apart from Arroyo, the DOJ referred the filing of charges to the Ombudsman against former Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, former Owwa Administrator Virgilio Angelo and former PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Francisco Duque III, who is now head of the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

Regalado said that migrant workers paid an Owwa membership fee of $25 per contract and P900 for Owwa-Medicare contributions per annum.

“This denotes that in 2004, Owwa raked in $23,399,700 (P1,237,004,100) in membership dues and P840,229,200 in Medicare contributions from the 933,588 workers it deployed then,” Regalado said.

“Owwa annually got fresh direct revenue from migrant workers and these funds accumulated to as much as P6 billion in 2003.” she added.

Based on Migrante International’s database, Regalado said at least 462 migrant workers either had medical reimbursement or checks for pick-up that were rendered “pending” by the Owwa.

“Owwa suspended its major services, among them Medicare, during the same time that the funds mere misused,” she said.

Trust, not public, funds

Regalado pointed out that Owwa funds were trust funds to be administered for the specific and particular benefit of overseas and migrant workers.

“They are not general public funds that may be allocated to other purposes. Under the Arroyo administration and her direct instructions, these funds were diverted to other purposes for her own gain and resulted in the denial of medical, livelihood and other forms of assistance to migrant workers and their families during her term,” she said.

Regalado noted that Arroyo also transferred the P100-million Livelihood Development Program from the Owwa to the National Livelihood Support Fund under the Office of the President in September 2003.

“The diversion of this program and its funds gave her full liberty to decide where and to which projects the funds would be allotted. This also did not benefit migrant workers,” she  said.

“If the Aquino administration is really serious in going after Arroyo and in the process correct corrupt practices in the Owwa, he should conduct a full audit of Owwa funds,” she said.

Regalado said Owwa’s overseas and home-based officers should also be investigated after the Commission on Audit reported that they had failed to remit more than P21 million in collections to Owwa’s dollar account at Land Bank of the Philippines in the last 10 years. With a report from Philip C. Tubeza