Arroyo appeals arrest—lawyer

MANILA—Lawyers for former Philippine president Gloria Arroyo filed a petition with the country’s highest court on Monday seeking to have her arrest on vote rigging charges overturned.

The petition argued that the investigation that led to her being charged and arrested on Friday disregarded legal procedures as the government rushed to stop Arroyo from leaving the country.

“We explained how they railroaded this case and did not give the respondent a chance to file a motion of reconsideration,” one of Arroyo’s lawyers, Raul Lambino, told reporters.

The petition asked the Supreme Court to rule that all the government prosecutor’s actions in leading to Arroyo’s arrest were illegal.

Arroyo was charged on Friday with conspiring to rig the 2007 senatorial elections, and she was placed under arrest hours later at a hospital where she was being treated for what she said was a rare bone disease.

The developments came after Arroyo, 64, sought to leave the country on Tuesday for what she said was urgently needed medical care.

Defying a Supreme Court order that said Arroyo should be allowed to travel, the government blocked her from leaving after she arrived at Manila’s international airport.

The Supreme Court ruled early last week that an initial ban on Arroyo from traveling abroad was unconstitutional because she had at that point not been charged with any crime.

The government then sought to quickly file criminal charges against her.

Arroyo is alleged to have committed a wide range of corrupt acts during the near decade she was in power, including bribery and cheating to win the 2004 presidential elections. She has denied all the allegations.

President Benigno Aquino, who has made pursuing Arroyo the top priority of his high-profile anti-graft campaign, has said she will soon be hit with other charges.

Supreme Court spokesman Midas Marquez said a decision on Arroyo’s latest petition could be made at a hearing on Tuesday.