Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo waves to the gallery shortly upon arrival in Congress. Arroyo will be waving goodbye in September after the Sandiganbayan allowed her to leave for a vacation and medical treatment in Europe. AP FILE
The Sandiganbayan has allowed Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to travel to Europe for a vacation and to consult medical experts for possible stem cell treatment even as she faces graft charges.
In a resolution, the antigraft court’s Fourth Division said it was allowing Arroyo’s travel motion even as it heard two graft cases against her and one for breach of the code of conduct of public officials. The cases are related to the allegedly anomalous National Broadband Network-ZTE (NBN-ZTE) deal during her term as president.
“Acting on accused Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s motion to travel abroad, and after considering the prosecution’s comment opposition thereto, the Court resolves to grant said accused permission to travel abroad to Munich, Germany; Paris, France; and Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China,” the court said.
In her travel motion, the former president said she would travel with her husband, former First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, to Munich for a medical consultation from Sept. 20 to 29, and for a vacation in Paris from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2.
READ: Arroyo asks court’s nod to travel to Germany for stem cell treatment
Arroyo is suffering from cervical spondylosis, a degenerative disease of the bones and cartilage of the neck. She had also complained of “generalized body weakness, persistent pain over the nuchal and left shoulder with numbness of both hands and frequent episodes of choking,” according to the Veterans’ Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) where she had been detained for plunder for four years before her release.
Arroyo said she also planned to meet with the Filipino communities in both countries.
She will also be in Hong Kong from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4 to attend a family reunion.
In an interview after she donated dialysis equipment to the VMMC last Wednesday, Arroyo said she would probably undergo stem cell treatment in Germany.
The court also allowed travel for her husband, who is Arroyo’s co-accused in one graft charge.
READ: Mike Arroyo asks court nod for Europe, HK trips with Gloria
The court ordered Arroyo to pay a travel bond of P300,000 and Miguel Arroyo to pay P90,000.
The court gave the usual restrictions, such as the need for the two accused to leave not earlier than and return not later than the specified dates.
The court also said the two should comply with the itinerary they submitted to the court.
The court also ordered the two to present themselves before the Clerk of Court at least five days after their return.
The justices said any material misrepresentation on the part of the accused would subject them to contempt by the court.
The resolution was signed by division chair Associate Justice Jose Hernandez, and members Associate Justices Alex Quiroz and Geraldine Econg.
In her motion, Arroyo said she was not a flight risk, assuring the court that she would return to the Philippines because she was a former president, vice president, and senator and an incumbent representative of Pampanga in Congress.
She also said her family in the Philippines was the “source of her strength and support,” and that she owned real properties in the country.
Arroyo added that she had every reason to return to the country “to face the remaining charges against her and to clear her name.”
“President Arroyo is willing and ready to comply with such conditions as the Honorable Court may deem necessary to impose on her travel abroad in order to guarantee her return to the Philippines,” Arroyo said in her motion.
Arroyo was charged with two counts of graft for approving the NBN deal despite being disadvantageous to government and despite knowing its irregularities. She was also accused of having personal gain in the contract.
The former President was accused of violating Section 3(g) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act when she allegedly fast tracked the approval of the project despite being disadvantageous to government.
Arroyo was charged with graft with her husband and former Commission on Elections chair Benjamin Abalos, whom the prosecution alleged both used their influence to facilitate the approval of the project.
She was charged with a second graft offense for violating Section 3(i) of the anti-graft law when she allegedly approved the NBN project for personal gain despite knowing the irregularities in the project.
READ: Arroyo pleads not guilty 3 times to NBN-ZTE graft raps
The prosecution said that among the anomalies was Arroyo knew the attempt of Abalos to bribe National Economic Development Authority (Neda) Secretary Romulo Neri with P200 million to immediately approve the project despite the lack of a public bidding.
Lastly, Arroyo was charged with one count of violating the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees or Republic Act 6713 for having lunch and playing golf with ZTE officials while the broadband project proposal was still being assessed by government.
READ: What Went Before: The NBN-ZTE deal
Arroyo was accused of violating Section 7(d) of the Code of Conduct which penalizes solicitation or acceptance of gifts in connection with any transaction of government.
The 2007 NBN-ZTE project would have interconnected government offices nationwide through broadband technology.
Arroyo’s NBN-ZTE case is up for resolution after she filed her demurrer to evidence in her bid to dismiss the case for insufficiency of evidence.
READ: Arroyo denies graft charges in broadband deal with China firm
Arroyo was put under hospital detention for four years until the Supreme Court ordered her release after dismissing her plunder case over the alleged misuse of P366 million in Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office intelligence funds from 2008 to 2010.
The High Court ruled that her approval of the P366-million intelligence fund releases was only ministerial and did not constitute an “overt act” to commit plunder.
READ: SC: Arroyo OK on fund release not overt act of plunder