If Arroyo is convicted, Aquino should worry

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

If former President Gloria Arroyo could be detained for plunder for authorizing the release of P366 million in Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s (PCSO) intelligence funds, President Benigno Aquino III and his officials should be worried they could suffer the same fate for implementing the unconstitutional Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

Arroyo’s lawyer Estelito Mendoza on Thursday made this statement, describing the “political ambiance” at which the plunder case against his ailing client was being pursued at the Sandiganbayan despite what he contends to be the lack of evidence against the former President.

In a briefing that sought to clarify Arroyo’s petition seeking her acquittal in the Supreme Court, Mendoza said the Sandiganbayan had created an entirely new version of the plunder law in denying her demurrer to evidence, a pleading that sought to dismiss the plunder charges on account of insufficient evidence.

Inclined to convict

The dismissal, which prompted the Arroyo camp to elevate their plea to the high court early this month, indicates that the antigraft court was inclined to convict the former President, according to Mendoza.

But Malacañang yesterday declined to comment on Mendoza’s opinion on the Aquino camp’s liability for its controversial economic stimulus program.

“The issue you are referring to is under trial in the court and it is not appropriate for me to comment on it because this is an active case that is being litigated and is within the jurisdiction of the judiciary,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a press briefing.

Trial on hold

The Sandiganbayan trial against Arroyo is on hold until Nov. 21, after the high court issued a 30-day status quo ante order on the proceedings while ordering the antigraft court to comment on the petition.

“We may foretell that she is going to be convicted… She is going to be condemned but not under the law. That is the great tragedy. And meanwhile, she has been under detention,” Mendoza told reporters in a briefing yesterday morning in his office in Makati.

“If you apply this doctrine created by the Sandiganbayan, [Budget Secretary Florencio] Abad and even President Aquino will have a lot to worry about because that is the equation, and in their case the Supreme Court already ruled that the release of [funds under] DAP is already unconstitutional,” said Mendoza.

The lawyer said the analogy may not be perfect and he’s not saying that President Aquino would likely also be convicted of plunder if charged criminally for DAP.

 In good faith

The high court had declared parts of DAP unconstitutional, including the cross-border of funds and premature declaration of savings. Meanwhile, the Aquino administration maintains that the program was crafted in good faith.

“If the authorization by President Arroyo as president to release confidential intelligence funds from the PCSO already constitutes ‘raiding the treasury’ and the crime of plunder, how would you characterize the authorization by Secretary Abad in releasing DAP funds with the consent of President Aquino?” said Mendoza.

“Would that not be equally a raid of the treasury? Would that not be a plunder? And I’m saying that [DAP] is a worse case because there is already a Supreme Court finding,” he said.

He noted how Arroyo’s coaccused in the case were all acquitted, with the former President the only one left facing trial. Former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte is also among the accused but she has never been arrested or put to trial.

Presumed innocent

“So to this day, she is presumed innocent of the crime of plunder,” said Mendoza of the former official said to have withdrawn the funds in question.

The lawyer cited how Arroyo, who has been under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City since her arrest on Oct. 4, 2012, has been “treated just like a person who has been convicted.”

“Essentially, therefore, she has been punished because that is what it amounts to. She is under detention, she cannot go anywhere else without permission of Sandiganbayan… Essentially, on a broad basis, no distinction is made between those who are simply charged and those convicted and penalized already,” said the lawyer.

Mendoza said he hopes the Supreme Court would take immediate action on the former President’s petition, citing her frail health. The 68-year-old Arroyo has been suffering from a degenerative problem in her cervical spine, which causes pain around her neck and arms.  With a report from Nikko Dizon