Has detention tamed Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?
The imperious, cantankerous and short-fused former President is not her old self in her special suite at Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City. She is under police custody while being tried on charges of electoral sabotage.
It is not a bailable offense, but Arroyo’s lawyers are trying to convince Judge Jesus Mupas of Branch 112 of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court that her health condition remains delicate. She is allegedly suffering from a debilitating spinal condition and she needs rest. And since she is no flight risk, she should be allowed bail.
She waits patiently, throwing no tantrums, as the lawyers argue her case for temporary liberty, an almost incredible change from the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who stretched the laws and even the Constitution to the limits to have her way. What Gloria wanted, Gloria got, even journalists who cover Malacañang remember.
The loss of power may have pulled her down to earth. She now appears to be a model detainee. Police Senior Supt. Richard Fiesta, who supervises Arroyo’s security, said that so far the security team has encountered no problems with their VIP prisoner.
“She is an ideal detainee,” Fiesta said. “So far, we do not have any problems with GMA. She obeys the detention regulations.”
Zero complaint
In her nearly four months of detention, Arroyo has not complained about her curtailed liberty. “Zero complaint,” Fiesta said. “She just smiles and waves to policemen deployed near the suite when she comes out for her morning sun.”
It is her visitors who grumble about the strict security. “Everything that goes in is inspected and checked and [that seems to be OK with her],” Fiesta said. She has not tried to break the court’s order banning her from using cell phones and accessing the Internet.
“Like an ordinary inmate, she is prohibited from using electronic gadgets, and the ban on cell phones and Internet access is strictly implemented, and she obeys it,” Fiesta said.
Arroyo also has not tried to get out of her suite other than to get morning sunshine. Her doctors want her to get afternoon sunshine as well but she has not tried to go for it.
Fiesta said Arroyo also had not complained about the way the police handled her security every time she was allowed to leave the suite. “She just nods her head and says, ‘OK’ when informed of the plan,” Fiesta said.
Dr. Nona Legaspi, VMMC director, also said Arroyo had been dutifully obeying hospital rules. “She follows rules and does not complain,” Legaspi told the Inquirer.
One request
Neither has Arroyo insisted on having her own doctor and instead has accepted care from VMMC doctors. “Her medical and healthcare supervision must be with our doctor in coordination with her private physicians, and she readily agreed, ” Legaspi said.
Arroyo also posed no opposition to the imposition of time limit on her visitors. “We also take into consideration the other patients of the hospital [who] could be affected if we allowed her to receive visitors anytime,” Legaspi explained.
But Arroyo has made only one request that was readily granted. “She asked that she be allowed to landscape the grounds of the presidential suite, and I approved it,” Legaspi said.
This the taxpayers may not like to hear: Arroyo is not spending anything for her stay in the VMMC. “The government is paying for her stay in the hospital, not her,” Legaspi said. But this is because Arroyo is primarily a detainee and her being a patient is only secondary. The government spends for her upkeep there as it pays for the upkeep of all other prisoners.
The government could save some money if Arroyo’s trial could be held in the hospital. Legaspi said she was open to this idea. “We have so much space here, and the hospital is big, we have plenty of room,” she said.
First posted 11:47 pm | Saturday, March 24th, 2012