GMA camp challenges arrest

MANILA, Philippines - The camp of Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is contesting the jurisdiction of a Pasay City court over the electoral sabotage case against the former president who is technically under arrest in her suite at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City.

“We are questioning the jurisdiction of the court. So, if we are not going to file a motion to that effect, we may be waiving our rights of questioning the court’s jurisdiction,” Arroyo spokesman and lawyer Raul Lambino said yesterday.

Pasay City Regional Trial Court Judge Jesus Mupas of branch 112 is handling the case against Arroyo. The two other respondents in the case were former Maguindanao governor Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr. and former provincial elections supervisor Lintang Bedol. Mupas ordered Arroyo’s arrest Friday afternoon after finding probable cause to charge her with electoral sabotage, together with Ampatuan and Bedol. Ampatuan and Bedol are both under detention - the latter for contempt and the former governor for alleged involvement in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.

Lambino said cases against any public official with a rank of Salary Grade 27 and above should be filed with the Sandiganbayan and not with regional trial courts.

Under Republic Act 6758, members of the House of Representatives like Arroyo belong to Salary Grade 31.

Lambino said Arroyo’s lawyers led by Jose Flaminiano are still studying other legal remedies for the former president.

Arroyo received the warrant for her arrest at 6:30 p.m. or two hours after its issuance. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said they would not compel her to leave the hospital.

Marilen Lagniton, SLMC spokesperson, said Arroyo will remain under their care because she is a patient. “Right now she’s our patient. We have never thrown out a patient,” Lagniton said over the phone.

The hospital has beefed up security since Friday’s serving of the warrant on Arroyo. The former president’s presidential suite on the 16th floor is under tight guard.

Ready for face-off

At Malacañang, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the state has more than enough in its legal arsenal to deal with ArroyoTs battery of lawyers. She also rejected accusations that there had been undue haste in the filing of the electoral sabotage case against the congresswoman.

“Our OSG (Office of the Solicitor General) will certainly do its best in all the cases that it represents government,” Valte told radio dzRB. She said government lawyers are certainly not worried about having to face Arroyo’s battery of veteran lawyers including Estelito Mendoza and Flaminiano.

“We will certainly be doing everything that we can, to make sure that there is no delay on the part of prosecution,” she added. But she stressed they would leave it up to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to deal with the cases involving the former first gentleman.

“He (Mr. Arroyo) has a pending case, I think, for the chopper, the chopper scam that was discovered and investigated on the Senate. I will have to defer to the justice secretary as to when any movement will happen on that particular case,” she said, adding that they were not rushing the filing of charges against the Arroyos.

“Sincerely, we want to avoid any perception that this is being railroaded. You’ve seen all the reactions. You’ve heard all the comments from the Arroyo camp coming out that this is railroaded, this is a mockery of justice. We want to avoid any perception of that,” she said.

“The results of the investigation have already been filed and it has to undergo a certain process. So, we will see what will happen.” She said whatever move the government makes on the case, it will not escape criticism.

“If such cases don’t come out, the assailing against us would be we are too slow. If these cases come out, we would be accused of railroading,” she said.

“But in this case, it comes out in the proper procedure and the proper time. Some are saying this was rushed. So how does one strike a middle ground in that?”

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III had said the case against Arroyo was “blemished with indecent haste” and that the integrity of the judicial system had been compromised.

“I don’t agree with the good senator that the haste, the so-called haste that he used has blemished the case. At this point let’s not prejudge it. We are not in any position to do so,” Valte said.

Last October, senators filed graft complaint against Mr. Arroyo and 18 others before the Office of the Ombudsman for the alleged anomalous purchase of two used helicopters that had been passed off as new. Included in the complaint were former Philippine National Police chief Director General Jesus Verzosa, former interior secretary Ronaldo Puno and 16 police officers.

In their complaint, Senators Teofisto Guingona III, Panfilo Lacson and Aquilino Pimentel III accused the respondents of conniving with each one another in defrauding the government of P62.67 million with the purchase of the two used helicopters. Mr. Arroyo said the filing of the case was not surprising and that it was intended to harass him.

“This does not come as a shock. This has been their (senators) finding even before they started the probe. The whole investigation has not been in aid of legislation but a charade to indict us without any solid piece of evidence,” Arroyo said in a statement last month.

The Commission on Elections on Friday filed an electoral sabotage case against Mrs. Arroyo amid a controversy created by the government’s refusal to allow her to leave the country to seek medical treatment for a rare bone disorder.

The case was filed a few hours after the poll body voted 5-2 to adopt a resolution calling for the filing of electoral sabotage case against the former president.

Malacañang also expressed confidence in Mupas. competence in handling the case despite an earlier reprimand from the Supreme Court for sitting on a case.

“I think he’s been fined and or administratively sanctioned for the way he has handled a particular case. And you know, we can always hope that he’s learned his lesson after that particular sanction,” Valte said.

In 2008, the SC reprimanded Mupas for not acting on a case pending in his sala for more than the required period of time.

In a seven-page resolution, the high court found Mupas guilty of violating provisions in the Code of Judicial Conduct. Mupas was also fined P10,000 for the offense. With Alexis Romero