Former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos. INQUIRER file photo
MANILA, Philippines – Benjamin Abalos Sr., the former Commission on Elections chairman, was taken ill and rushed to a hospital upon learning that he would be charged in the same electoral sabotage case brought against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
But Mandaluyong City Mayor Ben-hur Abalos, said his old man was “now resting at home.”
Jimmy Isidro, the chief public information officer of the Mandaluyong government, said an illness that Abalos Sr. had suffered a few years ago “came back” when he found out last Friday that he was going to be indicted with a no-bail offense.
“He had experienced [organ] bleeding [before],” Isidro explained.
In 2004, Abalos Sr., who was then chairman of the poll body, was rushed to a hospital after he passed out at his Comelec office in Intramuros, Manila.
The elder Abalos, 77, explained that he had fainted from stress-related hypertension. At the time, the Comelec was making preparations for the 2004 national elections.
Isidro said he was not aware whether Abalos Sr. was still in hospital, the name of which his informant had not provided.
“All I can say is that he is resting, he’s trying to recover his strength,” he said.
Mayor Abalos said Abalos Sr. had gone straight to the hospital following a visit to the Supreme Court on Friday. He said his father had undergone some tests and “did not stay long.”
“He has been through a lot [but] he will face the issues squarely,” the mayor said.
Abalos Sr. personally appeared before the high court on Friday to seek relief against the impending suit from the Comelec which said it was preparing to file 11 counts of electoral sabotage against the former Comelec chief.
He filed with the high court a very urgent motion for the issuance of a temporary restraining order, saying he was “in grave and imminent jeopardy of being indicted and incarcerated without due process and equal protection of the law even before his petition could be heard” by the high tribunal.
He made the appeal upon seeing the resolution from the special joint Department of Justice-Comelec panel that conducted the preliminary investigation of the case and recommended the filing of charges against Arroyo, Abalos Sr., former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and former Election Supervisor Lintang Bedol.
On Friday, the Comelec filed the election sabotage case against Arroyo with the Pasay City Regional Trial Court which promptly ordered the arrest of the former President and Pampanga congresswoman.