Judge orders Arroyo transferred to VMMC

MANILA, Philippines - Pasay City court Judge Jesus Mupas today ordered the transfer of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from the St. Luke's Medical Center (SLMC) in Taguig City to a government hospital.

Joel Pelicano, clerk of Pasay City Regional Trial Court Branch 112, said that Judge Mupas gave the camp of Mrs. Arroyo five days, starting from the receipt of the order, to prepare for the transfer of the former president to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City.

The order may be received anytime today as Pelicano said after the hearing that court personnel were already on their way to serve the orders to the lawyers of the former president. If the camp of Mrs. Arroyo is received today, the deadline will end on Tuesday (December 6).

Pelicano said copies of the order will also be delivered to the Department of National Defense, which has authority over the VMMC, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Philippine National Police and the Southern Police District.

Elena Bautista-Horn, spokesperson and chief of staff of the congresswoman, said that they will comply with the order of the court. She said she has yet to see a copy of the order.

However, she was informed by the lawyers that they were already on their way to the SLMC to inform Mrs. Arroyo of the latest order of Judge Mupas.

The VMMC is the same government medical facility where former President Joseph Estrada was held after being arrested for plunder.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who exposed several alleged corrupt activities of Mrs. Arroyo and her husband, Jose Miguel, said that the judge's order to transfer the former president to the government hospital was the "most humane" decision.

Judge Mupas and Pelicano on Monday inspected three facilities after the filing of two separate motions -- for house arrest and transfer to a detention facility -- filed by the lawyers of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Mrs. Arroyo.

The facilities inspected were the VMMC, the Philippine Orthopedic Hospital and the old media center of the Southern Police District, which has been turned into a special detention facility.

"It is difficult to justify that she continuously be confined at a private hospital while she is under the custody of the court," Pelicano said as he relays the order of Judge Mupas to reporters in a press briefing after the court's hearing.

He said that in considering the transfer from the private hospital to a government facility, the judge considered Mrs. Arroyo's current health condition and her security.

Pelicano said that Mrs. Arroyo will stay at the VMMC "up to the time the former president fully recovers" from colitis and mineral-bone disorder.

The order came after Dr. Juliet Gopez-Cervantes, main attending physician of Mrs. Arroyo, confirmed to Judge Mupas that she and other doctors from the SLMC recommends that the former president be continuously confined in hospital.

"It is still infectious in nature and we must reinstitute antibiotics and be given through IV," Cervantes said. She added that they will assess and re-evaluate the condition of Mrs. Arroyo tomorrow "if she will be improving or not."

Cervantes said they detected swelling and redness of the lining of the colon of the former president due to salmonella, a water- and food-borne bacteria.

In cross-examination by a lawyer from the Comelec, Cervantes said that Mrs. Arroyo's intravenous antibiotics could be administered in another hospital.

While her transfer is being prepared, Pelicano said that Mrs. Arroyo can continue to stay and receive treatment at the SLMC.

Arroyo off to jail if she recovers

Pelicano said during the press briefing that the court will start looking for an appropriate detention facility for Mrs. Arroyo only after she recovers from her current physical condition.

He cited for example Estrada's case, where the former president was transferred to special detention facilities after being discharged from the VMMC.

"We will consider all the factors," he said, adding that Mrs. Arroyo's security and her status as a former president will be taken into account in choosing her detention facility.

Pelicano, meanwhile, said that Judge Mupas failed to issue a ruling on the motion for house arrest filed by the camp of Mrs. Arroyo.

He said the court ordered the Comelec's lawyers to file their reply to the petition in 10 days.

Judge Mupas ordered Mrs. Arroyo arrested last November 18 or four days after the former president and her husband were barred by immigration officials from leaving and seeking a medical treatment abroad.

The arrest order was issued after the Comelec filed an electoral sabotage case against Mrs. Arroyo, which was based on allegations that she ordered the rigging of the results of the senatorial elections in 2007.

Mrs. Arroyo is also facing six plunder charges before the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman.