Palace: Aquino wants Arroyo case resolved before his term ends

A PALACE official said that the Aquino administration wants the case of former President and Pampanga representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to be resolved soon, just like how the Aquino leadership wants other cases to be resolved expeditiously.

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and President Benigno Aquino III. FILE PHOTO

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said that although it wants the case of Arroyo to be resolved soon, the former President’s case should also follow due process.

“Let me state this as a general principle: you’d like to see all cases resolved the soonest possible time. But you’d also be very, very conscious of the fact that due process must be observed,” Lacierda said in a press briefing on Monday.

He also emphasized that due to the separation of the judiciary from the executive branch, Malacañang cannot exercise control over the judiciary.

“As a general principle, we’d like to see cases resolved but again, we have no control. That’s a limitation of a tripartite form of government: that we have no control over the judiciary,” he added.

Atty. Mike Arroyo, the husband of the former chief executive, reportedly accused the Palace of political persecution.

The former president, who celebrated her 68th birthday on Sunday, has been in detention in the Veterans Memorial Medical Center due to a plunder case filed by the Sandiganbayan for her alleged misuse of P366 million intelligence funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

With the help of international human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney, Arroyo’s case has been filed before the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD).

Alamuddin urged the UN body to swiftly act on Arroyo’s case as her continued detention is said to be a human rights violation.

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