De Lima: House arrest bid lacking evidence

MANILA, Philippines - The lawyers of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have not presented enough evidence to support her bid for house arrest, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said yesterday.

“There is no basis anymore for her continuous hospital confinement. If there is no basis for hospital arrest, there is less reason for house arrest,” De Lima told reporters at Camp Karingal in Quezon City yesterday.

She said it was still up to the court to decide on which detention arrangement would be appropriate for the former president.

“They (Arroyo’s lawyers) have not cited a reason yet (for house arrest),” De Lima said. “They have to convince the court that house arrest is the best arrangement.”

She said the fact that the doctors of the Pampanga lawmaker have manifested that she could be treated on an outpatient basis shows that the house arrest arrangement is no longer warranted.

The prosecution panel from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday asked a Pasay City court for Arroyo’s immediate transfer from the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City to a local jail, preferably at the jail facility of the Southern Police District.

Judge Jesus Mupas of the Regional Trial Court Branch 112 is hearing the electoral sabotage case filed against the former president.

On the same day, Arroyo’s lawyers withdrew their motion seeking hospital arrest after a doctor testified that the former president was already fit to go home.

Dr. Mario Ver, the orthopedic spine surgeon of Arroyo, testified that the congresswoman is now recovering and could be treated as an outpatient and her full recovery is expected after several weeks.

Mupas gave both the prosecution and defense panels until Monday to submit their respective motions on the issue before a ruling would be rendered.

The Comelec filed electoral sabotage charges against Arroyo, former provincial elections supervisor Lintang Bedol, and former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. for allegedly rigging the senatorial elections in Maguindanao in 2007.

Electoral sabotage law unconstitutional

But lawyer Allan Paguia, a former Ateneo law professor, said the Electoral Sabotage law, which was signed by Arroyo on Jan 23, 2007 and under which she is being charged, is unconstitutional as it violated the equal protection clause and constitutional jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan over cases committed by public officials.

Paguia, a counsel of former President Joseph Estrada, said the constitutional provision on the creation of the Sandiganbayan, which was provided for in the 1973 Constitution, was carried over by the 1987 Constitution.

He said the constitutional jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan in the 1973 Constitution is specific on criminal and civil cases involving graft and corruption practices and such other offenses committed by public officers and employees in relation to their office as may be determined by law.

“The legislature has no authority to amend the constitutional jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan. The exercise of ordinary legislative authority which resulted in the passage of the Electoral Sabotage law is not a valid mode of amending the Constitution,” Paguia said.

Prohibited acts under the Election Sabotage law - such as setting the ceiling of 10,000 tampered ballots as basis for the offense, which carried the penalty of life imprisonment - is unreasonable, he said.

He said ordinary election offense carries only a penalty of six years’ imprisonment.

Paguia said the law does not explain why there is no election sabotage if the tampered votes are 5,000 or less even if the election results were adversely affected.

“As long as tampered votes exceed 10,000 there is election sabotage even if the result of the elections are not adversely affected,” he said.

Erap wants GMA under gov’t hospital arrest

Estrada, who was booted out of office in 2001 and subsequently charged and jailed for plunder, has another take on his nemesis’ situation.

In an interview over GMA 7 with Jessica Sojo, Estrada proposed that Arroyo be placed under government hospital arrest.

He said he does not want to see Arroyo suffer the same fate he suffered during his incarceration while he was still undergoing trial for plunder until he was found guilty and pardoned by Arroyo herself in October 2007.

The former leader was jailed from 2001 to 2007.

“She is a woman. Whatever it is, a woman is still a woman. I think she can be placed under government hospital arrest, not in a private hospital, so that the government will have full control and can monitor her,” he said.

Estrada said what he had gone through during his incarceration was worse than what Arroyo is experiencing now.

“She (Arroyo) was given a lot of time to face the charges against her while I was not. I was not given due process and they created a special court to try my case, the first time in our judicial history,” he said.

He said the most painful thing that he experienced during his incarceration was seeing his grandchildren crying while visiting him in jail.

Estrada said he felt like he was a common criminal when he and his son, now Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, had their mug shots taken at the Sandiganbayan.

“I was really disheartened because my son Jinggoy was with me while our mug shots were taken. But it’s moot and academic,” he said.

The former leader said if he were Justice Secretary De Lima, he would not block Arroyo’s travel abroad.

‘GMA faking ailment’

However, he said he does not believe that Arroyo is seriously ill because she was asking to be allowed to go to five foreign countries, including a speaking engagement.

“Why five countries? If she is indeed seriously ill, why did she include a schedule for a speaking engagement? We are lucky that we have a courageous Justice secretary like Ms. De Lima. Her doctors now have testified that her health condition has already improved,” Estrada said, recalling that before he was allowed to stay in his rest house in Tanay, Rizal, he had been transferred from one detention cell to another.

He said Arroyo should face all the charges first, undergo the proper legal process, before even thinking of presidential pardon, adding that the former president has to explain her alleged involvement in fraud in the 2004 and 2007 elections, the NBN-ZTE scam and the fertilizer fund scam, among others.

“I have already forgiven those who have wronged me. I have also forgiven Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. But she has to answer to the Filipino people about all the allegations against her. I heard her son, (Congressman) Dato, is asking for mercy for his mother. I also pity our country and the entire Filipino people,” Estrada said, adding that Arroyo should prove her innocence in court.

Meanwhile, Vice President Jejomar Binay said the Aquino administration’s efforts to charge Arroyo with electoral sabotage only shows the government’s resolve in staying true to its promise of a government built on transparency, accountability and good governance.

“Actions by the Aquino administration merely proceed from its covenant with the sovereign people to return government to the people and to hold accountable before the law those who helped themselves to the people’s money and have wantonly abused the awesome powers and privileges of government,” Binay said during the Annual Convention of the Philippine Association of Law Schools Inc. in Pasay City.

Binay said the criticisms hurled against the Aquino administration by pro-Arroyo groups are to be expected.

“At the end, I am confident that we are bound by the shared ideal of seeing truth and justice prevail,” he said. - With Perseus Echeminada, Jose Rodel Clapano