No special treatment for Arroyos, says Malacañang

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and husband Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo. INQUIRER PHOTO

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband can expect no special treatment from the administration should they invoke their poor health to evade imprisonment, Malacañang said Thursday.

President Benigno Aquino III’s spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said it was up to the courts to decide on the matter should it crop up, but replied in the affirmative when asked if the government could assure no VIP treatment for the couple.

“Yes, of course. [That’s] why we have reformed the New Bilibid Prisons. We [ensure] equal protection of the law so that nobody will be given special treatment in any case,” Lacierda said at a news briefing.

He said that if the Arroyos sought some form of relief owing to their health, the request would have to go through “the legal process,” and that it was the courts that would eventually decide on the matter.

Lacierda said the joint panel of the Commission on Elections and the Department of Justice looking into the alleged fraud in the 2004 and 2007 elections was in the best position to say when the public could expect developments in the cases against the Arroyos.

He said Malacañang was not involved in the joint panel’s investigation.

Palace hands-off

“Malacañang is hands-off because they are still evaluating the evidence,” he said.

Former Maguindanao Administrator Norie Unas is the latest witness to submit an affidavit on Arroyo’s purported involvement in poll fraud.

Unas said he had personally heard Arroyo order then Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. to ensure a 12-0 sweep in the province of the administration’s candidates in the 2007 senatorial elections, and to commit fraud if necessary.