No Yule furlough for GMA

MANILA, Philippines - Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo won’t be home for Christmas.

The Sandiganbayan denied yesterday the petition of Arroyo and three former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) officials who are facing plunder charges to spend Christmas in her hometown and in their respective homes.

In a nine-page resolution, the Sandiganbayan First
Division saw no reason to grant the request of Arroyo and former PSCO president Sergio Valencia, former board member Manuel Morato and former PCSO Budgets and Accounts manager Benigno Aguas to spend Christmas and New Year at their homes.

“Ordinarily, upon arrest, all the accused should have been confined in a regular jail or detention center. They should be treated as ordinary detention prisoners,” the resolution noted.

Arroyo had asked the anti-graft court to allow her a prison furlough because the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City, where she is staying, will not be secured during the Christmas break.

She asked for an 18-day furlough from Dec. 20 to Jan. 6.

Physical therapists will be asked to be stationed in two provincial hospitals in the towns of Floridablanca and Guagua in Pampanga for her regular therapy while Arroyo is staying in her hometown in Lubao.

Arroyo, Valencia, Morato and Aguas were among those charged with plunder in connection with the misuse of P366 million in PCSO funds during Arroyo’s presidency from 2008 to 2010.

The other co-accused were former PCSO vice chairman/general manager Rosario Uriarte, former members of the PCSO Board of Directors Jose Taruc V, Raymundo Roquero, and Ma. Fatima Valdes, former Commission on Audit chairman Reynaldo Villar, and former head of COA’s Intelligence/Confidential Fund Audit Unit Nilda Plaras, for the crime of plunder.

House Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez branded as “heartless” the Sandiganbayan’s decision denying the request for a Christmas furlough of Arroyo.

“She is a former President, an elected lawmaker, a female senior citizen, and she is sick and she is only accused so she is presumed innocent,” he said.

“The court is not persuaded, would negate the very reason why the court allowed her to stay at the VMMC, for if she could already travel to Lubao, Pampanga and stay in her house there for (almost) three weeks, there is no more reason for her to be confined in a hospital,” the resolution said.

The justices added that they do not believe that VMMC would allow all physical therapists to go on leave as this runs counter to the “very essence of a medical institution.” With Paolo Romero