Court won’t let Gloria Arroyo go out and party

Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Sandiganbayan thumbed down the request of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to attend the 50th wedding anniversary of El Shaddai leader Bro. Mike Velarde and his wife Belen on Friday.

“(T)he court does not share (Arroyo’s) submission that the furlough she is asking is one of the privileges she may enjoy as a detention prisoner,” the antigraft court’s First Division said in a three-page ruling.

It said the former president’s petition was “bereft of merit” as it “runs counter to the very essence of her detention.”

“The court does not find (Arroyo’s) justification to be allowed to attend (Velardes’ wedding anniversary) that important as to grant her furlough and allow her to leave her detention center for the purpose,” it added.

The resolution was signed by Associate Justice Efren dela Cruz, chair of the First Division, and Associate Justices Rodolfo Ponferrada and Rafael Lagos.

In a motion her lawyers filed on July 7, Arroyo asked the court’s permission for her to leave the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City, where she had been on hospital arrest for plunder since 2012, to attend the golden wedding anniversary celebration of Velarde and his wife yesterday.

Her lawyers said the founder of the Catholic charismatic group was not only Arroyo’s “close friend, but one of her spiritual advisers as well.”

Since the prosecution had yet to prove her guilt, Arroyo said she should be given similar privileges given to accused who have yet to be convicted, including her right to travel.

But government prosecutors blocked Arroyo’s motion, noting that she had been indicted for plunder, a nonbailable offense.

In throwing out Arroyo’s request, the court reminded her of a similar ruling it issued on March 14 which dismissed her motion for a three-day furlough to celebrate her 67th birthday with her family and constituents in her hometown in Lubao, Pampanga.

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