Clarify your request, poll body tells Gloria Arroyo

The camp of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should clarify which of the memorial services for her late brother-in-law, Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio Arroyo, she intends to attend, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Saturday.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the detained former President’s request for the Pasay City court to allow her to attend the lawmaker’s wake was “very vague.”

“We need the details … Her request is to attend the wake but what if the wake is … I don’t know … in Hong Kong? So does that mean she will have to travel? What if the wake is in Negros?” Jimenez said.

Necessary

“We don’t know the exact dimension of this request of hers for provisional freedom so we want her to clarify it first,” he said, adding that such a clarification was necessary for the government to prepare the logistical and security requirements.

Arroyo has been under hospital arrest at Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City since Nov. 18. She is charged with electoral sabotage before the Pasay City court.

Jimenez said that “every time she goes out, we incur costs for security, logistics…”

“She can’t go [to the wake] alone. Someone must be assigned to her, so their request should be clear,” he said.

Jimenez also said it was “hard to say” if the court would give Arroyo the requested permission “because it all depends on the circumstances.”

“If they say ‘I want to attend the wake,’ the next they will say is ‘I want to attend the burial,’” he said.