Judge OKs continued hospital arrest for Arroyo

St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City. AP

The Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) hearing the electoral sabotage case against former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has allowed her continued hospital arrest until it is determined whether she is fit to go to jail.

With no objection from prosecution lawyers of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Judge Jesus Mupas of Pasay City RTC Branch 112 on Monday permitted Arroyo to remain confined at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City.

“The court has agreed to a temporary hospital arrest due to her health condition and for humanitarian reasons,” the clerk of court, Jose Pelicano, told reporters after the court postponed to Friday a hearing on the motions filed by Arroyo’s lawyers.

Arroyo, 64, has been staying at the hospital since Tuesday night, when the government stopped her from boarding a flight at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Her lawyers said she needed to travel abroad to seek medical treatment for a spine condition.

Pelicano said the court made the decision even as Arroyo’s lawyers filed a motion seeking to keep their client in the hospital. A doctor from the Philippine National Police had a similar recommendation after examining her on Saturday.

“The court will still look at the merits of her lawyer’s petition to put her under hospital arrest. If the government has no objection, then the court will issue an order. Now, the arrangement is temporary based on humanitarian grounds,” he said after court proceedings adjourned at about 9:30 a.m.

Arroyo was arrested on November 18 for allegedly engineering the sweep of administration senatorial candidates in Maguindanao in 2007. She purportedly told then Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. to ensure a “12-0” victory in the province, the instruction he allegedly later gave to Election Supervisor Lintang Bedol.

Jose Flaminiano, a lawyer of Arroyo, said his client was “ailing” and needed close medical attention. He reiterated in open court a directive from President Benigno Aquino III to accord Arroyo the utmost respect as a former head of state.

Rally

Activists, however, do not believe that Arroyo’s place is in a hospital. On the first day of the trial, they staged a lightning rally at Pasay City Hall on Monday morning to press for the transfer of Arroyo to a detention facility.

Some 15 members of the  Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and the League of Filipino Students carried placards calling for Arroyo’s imprisonment and treatment as “an ordinary prisoner.”

They decried the alleged “special treatment” being given to the former President in the form of hospital arrest.

Appropriate place

An official of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA), who does not agree that Arroyo’s medical condition needs treatment abroad, advised that she be detained in the hospital rather than a jail cell.

“The hospital is the appropriate place for a sick person, whether an ordinary or [prominent] citizen,” Leo Olarte, a PMA governor and orthopedic surgeon, said on the sidelines of the Kapihan sa Diamond Hotel media forum on Monday.

Olarte earlier criticized Arroyo’s camp for insisting that she go abroad to get a bone biopsy. The surgeon argued that Filipino doctors were well-qualified to take on the job.

This time, however, Olarte acknowledged that Arroyo’s present condition called for her continued stay at the hospital.

“She has an intestinal infection that can lead to dehydration. Her fluids and electrolytes need to be examined and balanced, and that would need special hospital equipment and a laboratory that won’t be present in a detention cell. She also has anorexia nervosa and that would need a special food supplement,” Olarte told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

But Olarte maintained that Arroyo’s medical condition was not “life-threatening” enough to warrant immediate treatment abroad.

Depression

He advised Arroyo’s doctors to focus on treating her intestinal infection and anorexia nervosa first.

“I hope she will recover from the infection in five to seven days, but as for the anorexia, perhaps caused by a lack of appetite, it depends on the depression and the stress she’s suffering,” Olarte said.

At St. Luke’s Medical Center, lawyer Raul Lambino told reporters that Arroyo appeared to be suffering from depression.

Although he maintained he wasn’t sure if doctors had diagnosed Arroyo as suffering from clinical depression, Lambino said it was evident that the situation she was in was taking a toll on her health.

“When I saw her this morning, she said she had not eaten her breakfast. She did not have any appetite,” the lawyer said. “She feels weak, maybe because of the lack of nutrients in her body which was probably due to her lack of appetite.”

Arroyo remains hooked to an intravenous drip, he said.

Lambino said Judge Mupas’ order for Arroyo to remain in the hospital could be revoked once it was determined after a hearing that she was medically fit to go to jail.

“Any order like that is interlocutory, meaning it’s not final and would depend on the exigency of the time,” Lambino told the Inquirer.

No copy for Comelec

Prosecutors and defense counsels sought the continuation of the hearing on Friday to give both panels time to comment on the pleadings of Arroyo’s lawyers, copies of which were not furnished the law department of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Flaminiano said the pleadings of the defense panel were sent to the office of Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, thinking that the Department of Justice (DOJ) was handling the case.

But Maria Juana Valeza, a lawyer at the Comelec law department who represented the agency, said the case was a violation of election law, over which the poll body has jurisdiction.

Flaminiano said he would take note of that and promised that copies of the defense filings would be forwarded to the Comelec law department.

Court’s jurisdiction

He conceded that after a review of relevant laws, the defense team realized that the Pasay City RTC had jurisdiction over the case.

In a pleading filed on Friday, the defense team maintained that only the Sandiganbayan had jurisdiction over cases involving government officials with a position of Salary Grade 27 and above.

As President during the time of alleged commission of the crime, Arroyo was at Salary Grade 33, the highest category in government service.

Flaminiano told the court that the defense team was withdrawing the portion of the pleading that questioned the court’s jurisdiction over the case. Other than that issue, the team kept their other arguments.

In their court filing, a copy of which was obtained by the Inquirer, Arroyo’s lawyers insisted that the government had no evidence to support the criminal information it filed.

Haste

The defense team described as “astonishing” the speed with which the Comelec resolved the issue on Friday, just four days from the time the joint DOJ-Comelec investigative panel wrapped up its probe.

“Clearly, the indecent haste in filing of the instant criminal cases is calculated to prevent Macapagal-Arroyo from availing [herself] of her remedies under the law and in exercising her constitutional rights,” the pleading said.

Flaminiano said the charge sheet and its voluminous supporting documents failed to establish probable cause.

Citing the complaint affidavit of Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, Flaminiano said it barely substantiated the allegation that Arroyo was involved in electoral sabotage.

“Senator Pimentel failed to disclose these election documents which serve as the basis of the charge of electoral sabotage,” said a pleading of the defense team. “It is therefore clear that no probable cause exists that would warrant the arrest of the accused.”

Benjamin Santos, another lawyer of Arroyo, asked Judge Mupas to take a “second look” at the case, pointing out that the legality of the joint DOJ-Comelec panel was still in question in the high court.

Mupas replied that the court would wait for the Supreme Court’s resolution of the issue “so everybody would be guided.”

Observers

Among the observers during Monday’s trial was Sister Doria Fenix of the Daughters of St. Paul congregation. She said she wanted to see the proceedings for herself.

“Being a citizen, these are concerns that I should know about,” said Fenix, who worked as a volunteer for the National Movement for Free Elections. With reports from Cynthia Balana, Jeannette I. Andrade and Reuters

Originally posted: 10:43 am | Monday, November 21st, 2011