GMA pleads not guilty

MANILA, Philippines - Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo pleaded not guilty to graft charges before the Sandiganbayan yesterday for her alleged role in the 2007 national broadband network (NBN) deal with ZTE Corp.

Wearing a neck brace and with kinesio tapes on her left lower leg, Arroyo denied accusations of having violated the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for her “unusual interest in the transaction” and being “directly or indirectly becoming interest, for personal gain, or having material interest” in the botched $329-million project.

The former president is also facing a third criminal case for alleged violation of Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees for supposedly having lunch and playing golf with officials of ZTE Corp. in Shenzhen, China while the transaction was pending her final approval four years ago.

“How do you plead, Madam president Arroyo?” Sandiganbayan Fourth Division chairman Gregory Ong asked Arroyo thrice, to which she repeatedly replied “not guilty, your honors.”

Her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo and former elections chief Benjamin Abalos Sr. also entered not guilty pleas to the graft case filed against them by the Office of the Ombudsman.

The arraignment became a sort of reunion of the key players of the previous administration.

The Arroyo couple was first to be greeted by Abalos who, though already earlier charged by the Office of the Ombudsman because of the same NBN deal, is a co-accused in the latest.

The Arroyo couple shook hands with Abalos who sat just behind them during the proceedings.

Abalos said he and the former president simply exchanged greetings since they had not seen each other in a while.

“She greeted me and I responded I’m still aching in the inside,” Abalos said. When he asked back, Mrs. Arroyo replied “Eto (here), recovering.”

Before the actual arraignment, Mrs. Arroyo’s legal counsel Jose Flaminiano tried to ask the court to do away with the reading of the charge sheet, arguing that his client is already well informed of the allegations against her and that she has the right to waive her constitutional right to be read the same in open court.

“No, no, we will not allow that,” Ong said even though he still allowed the lawyer to continue citing decided cases to support the request.

“We heard enough, please sit down,” the Sandiganbayan magistrate later ruled as he ordered Fourth Division clerk of court Joeffre Gil Zapata to proceed with the reading of the complaints.

As earlier manifested in a last minute motion to postpone the arraignment, former transportation secretary Leandro Mendoza failed to appear before the anti-graft court.

Mendoza is still confined at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig after suffering a mild stroke last month.

The Sandiganbayan said Mendoza, represented by lawyer Alexander Poblador, will be arraigned on May 14, 2012 while the pre-trial conference, as agreed upon by both prosecution lawyers and defense counsels, will be scheduled on June 4, 2012.

Ong, with Associate Justices Jose Hernandez and Maria Cristina Cornejo, also urged defense lawyers to consider waiving the rights of their clients to be present during trial in order to save on government resources, considering the trouble of having to provide security for Arroyo whenever she is allowed to leave the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) where she is detained for a separate case of electoral sabotage.

Arroyo is facing the charges before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court. The court will resume today the hearing of bail petition filed by Arroyo and co-accused former election officer Lintang Bedol in the case.

Shingles

During the arraignment, hundreds of supporters gathered along Commonwealth Avenue near the Sandiganbayan building to express support for the former president.

Arroyo had a chat with only a handful of reporters who were allowed to enter the courtroom and watch the proceedings.

Mrs. Arroyo said she went to the Sandiganbayan against her doctor’s advice.

“I have shingles,” she told reporters. She said the shingles is preventing her from continuing her physical therapy sessions.

“I hope you’ve had already chickenpox? I have the shingles now. It’s contagious but you will not get shingles, you will get chickenpox,” Mrs. Arroyo said.

“I felt the symptoms (of shingles) on Friday, like the severe back ache and they (doctors) saw the blisters. The pain is severe in shingles. It hits like a very, very bad flu,” the former leader said.

Arroyo said she insisted on attending her arraignment against doctors’ advice so her physicians accompanied her to the anti-graft court.

She said she undergoes physical therapy and does morning walks under the sun to strengthen her bones. She also has restrictions on her diet, like soda drinks and fatty foods. Her left leg was also bound with “kinesio tape” as part of her therapy.

“In fact I came in spite of the doctor’s advice because I didn’t want to (postpone). It’s hard to postpone it again. So anyway, I hope the proceeding will be fast, so I can go back,” she said.

One of the doctors who accompanied Mrs. Arroyo to the Sandiganbayan, Martha Nocum, said she wanted Mrs. Arroyo to have bed rest.

“But she insisted on attending the arraignment so it could be over soon,” Nocum said.

According to the website webmd.com, shingles is a painful skin rash caused by the varicella zoster virus, which is “most common in older adults and people who have weak immune systems because of stress, injury, certain medicines, or other reasons.”

The website said shingles occur when the virus that causes chickenpox starts up again in a person’s body because after one gets better from chickenpox, the virus “sleeps” in the nerve roots.

“In some people, it stays dormant forever. In others, the virus wakes up when disease, stress, or aging weakens the immune system. Some medicines may trigger the virus to wake up and cause a shingles rash. It is not clear why this happens. But after the virus becomes active again, it can only cause shingles, not chickenpox,” it said.

Asked about her daily routine, Arroyo said she attends Mass daily at 7:15 a.m. and spends a lot of time writing about social bias, housing, and high fuel costs before receiving visitors between 3 to 9 p.m. -With Paolo Romero, Perseus Echeminada