Party-list opposes placing Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in House custody

MANILA, Philippines—Akbayan Party-list Rep. Kaka Bag-ao on Tuesday opposed a move of opposition lawmakers to place former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo under the protective custody of the House of Representatives during her trial for an election sabotage case.

Bag-ao said the House should not be used as a haven for “crooks, plunderers and criminals.”

“The people’s right to justice must take precedence over the right of a single individual. The Minority should stop treating this House as if it were a shelter for crooks, plunderers, and criminals,” Bag-ao said.

“If there is anything that needs protection from this august chamber, it is the rule of law that is now being bastardized by the machinations of the people that GMA has put in key positions during her incumbency as president,” she stresed.

According to Bag-ao, there is no reason to give the former president special treatment and the electoral sabotage case against Mrs. Arroyo is a fair and legitimate judicial process.

She said Arroyo should fear, not the judicial process, but the real possibility of a conviction and a long jail term.

Rep. Walden Bello, also of Akbayan, insisted that Arroyo had no right to ask for or be accorded special treatment.

“A hospital arrest is better than protective custody. But if there is fear of real threats to her wellbeing, the Department of Justice can simply increase its complement of Philippine National Police and DOJ personnel providing security for her,” Bello said.

Bello also said that it would be unwise to bring Arroyo to Batasan and to be in close proximity of her staunchest allies.

“At a time when all of Gloria’s escape routes are blocked off, bringing GMA to Congress would open a little window of opportunity for her to plot her final escape,” Bello explained.

He pointed out that congressional security could not even detect the switching of ballot boxes of the 2004 elections that were stored at the House.

“What chance would they have against people determined to help Gloria escape, especially that the Minority might provide insider assistance for this? The House simply is not tailored to serve as a detention center,” Bello said.

He said the prosecution of Arroyo should be seen as a test of the “Daang Matuwid’ (straight way) policy of the Aquino administration and urged the House leadership to cooperate by showing the people its allegiance to truth and justice by rejecting protective custody for Arroyo.

San Juan Rep. JV Ejercito, another son of former president Joseph Estrada who was ousted in a military-backed people power revolt in 2001 that benefited then vice president Arroyo, said the Aquino government should now file charges in court against former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, his son Mikey Arroyo, and the rest of their accomplices in various cases of graft, plunder and human rights violations.

“I hope the electoral sabotage will not be the last case filed against GMA. The people are still waiting for all the other charges to be filed in court against her,” Ejercito said.

He said the government must ensure it could provide the same security and protection to key state witnesses to assure the successful prosecution of the electoral sabotage case, and additional cases against the Arroyos.

“I hope they (key state witnesses) would not opt to leave the country for fear of their lives. In the interest of justice, let us secure them and make them feel assured that they and their families would be protected.

He also questioned the move of the Department of Justice to allow Mrs. Arroyo’s son, Ang Galing Partylist Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, to travel to the US, pending the tax case against him and his wife, Angela.

“It is just a wonder why my colleague, Mikey Arroyo, was permitted to slip out of the country quietly amid the chaos of his mother’s arrest. That is quite unfortunate. I hope he returns soon and not abandon his mother to face all these charges alone,” he said.

A court, where the tax case against Rep. Mikey Arroyo has been pending, temporarily lifted the hold-departure order against him prompting the DOJ to follow suit on its parallel watch-list order.