Arroyo defies docs, attends NBN pretrial

Against the advice of her doctors, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday showed up at the Sandiganbayan for the pretrial of the graft charges filed against her in connection with the allegedly anomalous national broadband network (NBN) transaction during her presidency.

Wearing a red suit and a neck brace, the now Pampanga representative arrived in a wheelchair with an intravenous tube attached to her arm. She was accompanied by husband and coaccused, Jose Miguel Arroyo, lawyers Jose Flaminiano, Jose Alberto Flaminiano and Laurence Hector Arroyo, and a number of nurses.

The Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division had required Arroyo to be present at the pretrial of the graft charges filed against her by the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the $329.48-million broadband transaction with the Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE Corp.

Explained Associate Justice Gregory Ong of the Fourth Division: “Mrs. Arroyo is allowed not to submit a pretrial brief but if she (does) not attend the pretrial conference, all her desired witnesses and evidence will not be taken cognizance of.”

Ong said the Supreme Court had ruled that a pretrial conference was mandatory in criminal proceedings and that the Sandiganbayan was simply implementing the rules to “protect the rights of the accused.”

Also charged with the Arroyo couple were former Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos and former Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza.

All the accused had pleaded not guilty to the graft charges. The former president is also facing a third suit in the same court for violation of the Code of Ethical Standards for Public Officials.

Arroyo was in a pensive mood throughout the hearing before the court finally allowed her to be excused for her physical therapy at Veterans Memorial Medical Center.

Elena Bautista-Horn, Arroyo’s spokesperson, said the congresswoman was “out on pass” against the advice of her doctors at the VMMC.

At the conference, defense cocounsel Lawrence Arroyo said his client will be one of 29 witnesses they will be presenting, along with 48 documents as evidence.

“We will present her as a witness kung kinakailangan pero baka hindi na rin kami umabot doon (but maybe we won’t even reach that point),” lead defense counsel Flaminiano said.

Special Prosecutor Marlon Ramos said the prosecution, for its part, will be presenting 46 witnesses and 47 documents as evidence. With a report from Julie M. Aurelio