former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will have more time in her hands, if Ombudsman prosecutors would have their way and have her suspended as a lawmaker.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) on Tuesday asked the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division to suspend Arroyo from her position as representative of Pampanga’s Second District while her graft cases over the canceled national broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corporation are pending.
Arroyo ran for the legislature after stepping down from the presidency in 2010.
In its motion, the OSP noted that under the antigraft law, suspension is mandatory for officials who are facing valid graft charges, regardless of whether the offenses involved were simple or complex.
“With the foregoing, the suspension of accused Ma. Gloria M. Macapagal-Arroyo pending litigation from any public office that she may be holding is mandatory pursuant to law and jurisprudence,” it said.
Among the incumbent officials recently ordered suspended by the Sandiganbayan over their pending cases were Arroyo’s colleague, South Cotabato and General Santos City Representative Pedro Acharon, and presidential adviser and Laguna Lake Development Authority Chief Nereus Acosta.
Acharon and Acosta were suspended for 90 days.
The OSP also said in its motion that Arroyo was already arraigned on April 11, which is why the charges filed against her are considered valid. Arroyo had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Arroyo was charged with two counts of graft and one count of violation of the code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials for approving the $329-million NBN deal despite knowing of its irregularities, and for having lunch and playing golf with ZTE officials while the latter’s broadband project proposal was still being assessed by the Philippine government.
Arroyo later canceled the NBN project after a scandal over its supposed overpricing and the alleged bribery of public officials erupted. The project would have interconnected government offices nationwide through broadband technology.
The former president’s graft charges are bailable, but she is currently detained at Veterans Memorial Medical Center over her nonbailable electoral sabotage case.
Originally posted: 8:00 pm | Tuesday, April 17th, 2012