MANILA—The lawyers of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo denounced the haste with which the arrest warrant was issued against her, saying that she was a victim of the “P-Noy express.”
“What’s happening to Mrs. Arroyo is not an ordinary railroad act but a P-Noy express, which violates all laws and rules, even the Supreme Court, and this is very alarming,” said Arroyo’s counsel and legal spokesman Raul Lambino
He said President Aquino’s instruction to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to accord courtesy to Arroyo, now a representative of Pampanga, was just to score political brownie points.
“What they’re saying is something but what they’re actually doing is another thing,” Lambino said.
Lambino said the issuance of the arrest warrant by a Pasay Regional Trial Court was rushed at a time when the high court had just finished reiterating its previous ruling upholding Arroyo’s constitutional right to travel and so proved that this administration was “bent on persecuting her.” “She is so depressed, stressed out and very, very sad but she has to face the P-Noy tune which is ‘tsugtsugin’ (persecute) tune,” Lambino said.
Lambino said his group had filed a motion for reconsideration with the Pasay RTC. He will also handle the oral arguments scheduled on Tuesday on the validity of Department of Justice Circular No. 41 which barred Arroyo from leaving the country.
Specifically, Lambino wanted the court to take note that Arroyo’s electoral offense should be handled by the Sandiganbayan and not a lower court.
He pointed out that Arroyo was a former president, with salary grade 33, when the alleged crime was committed as provided under the Sandiganbayan law.
Lambino also questioned the Pasay RTC’s jurisdiction over the criminal complaint since Malacañang, where Arroyo had held office as President when the alleged offense was committed, is located in Manila.
On criticism why he was passionately defending what seemed to be an unpopular cause, Lambino said what was happening today was “beyond GMA.”
“If you’re defending a popular president, it is very easy but if you’re defending a very unpopular president who has been found guilty in the eyes of the public, it is very difficult,” Lambino said. Inquirer