SC grants Arroyo holiday furloughs

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

THE SUPREME Court on Tuesday granted the request of former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for Christmas and New Year furloughs while the high tribunal tackles the urgent motion for house arrest she filed pending the resolution of her bail petition.

Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te said the court also ordered the Office of the Solicitor-General to comment on the motion within 20 days from notice.

Asked to comment on the high court’s ruling, Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma told reporters: “We respect the (high tribunal’s) decision.”

Ms Arroyo recently filed a petition before Supreme Court contesting the decisions of the Sandiganbayan that denied her motions for bail and demurrer of evidence that she filed while undergoing trial for plunder.

Last month, the high court issued a status quo ante order which practically suspended the trial while her petition was being resolved. Her lawyers then filed a motion for house arrest pending the resolution of the petition.

Pending the resolution of the motion, Te said the justices granted Ms Arroyo request for furloughs from 8 a.m. on Dec. 23 to 5 p.m. on Dec. 26, and from 8 a.m. on Dec. 30 to 5 p.m. of Jan. 2, 2016.

Te said the furlough would be “spent exclusively” at Arroyo’s house at No. 14 Badjao St., La Vista Subdivision, Quezon City.