Comelec to oppose GMA's request to spend Christmas at home

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will oppose the request of the camp of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her to spend Christmas in her home at the plush La Vista Subdivision in Quezon City.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said they would object to any motion that Arroyo’s lawyers will file before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) to allow the former president to leave the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City this yuletide season.

“Of course we will oppose (the motion) because it is the Comelec’s position that she be detained in a government facility,” said Jimenez.

Arroyo’s lawyers are set to ask Pasay RTC Judge Jesus Mupas to give her permission to spend the holidays with her family and friends in her La Vista home.

Her ally Quezon City Rep. Danilo Suarez insisted that the court has not convicted her yet so she could have a holiday furlough.

The Comelec had filed an electoral sabotage case against her before the Pasay City court for allegedly manipulating the 2007 senatorial elections in Maguindanao.

She allegedly ordered Maguindanao officials to rig the elections in favor of the then administration’s senatorial candidates.

Mupas had issued a warrant of arrest for Arroyo and ordered that she be detained at the VMMC after her transfer from the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City, where she was undergoing treatment for a rare bone ailment.

Jimenez said the Comelec is consistent with its position that Arroyo should be kept in a government detention facility and not in a private hospital or a house.

“To be consistent with our position, we will oppose anything that will defeat that position of ours. We do not have anything against her personally,” he added.

The Comelec had agreed to Arroyo’s hospital arrest only while she is recovering from the three major surgeries that she underwent for her damaged cervical spine.

When Arroyo recovers, the poll body will push that Arroyo be detained at the Southern Police District detention facility in Taguig City.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said he has no problem with the request of the Arroyo camp to allow the former president to spend Christmas with her family at their house in Quezon City.

Sotto said there is already a precedent on the grant of Christmas furlough.

He said that even former President Joseph Estrada was allowed to spend the Christmas holidays with his family during the time he was detained after he was charged with plunder in 2001 following his ouster by a people power revolt.

Court discretion

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said that the former president should be allowed to have a television set, radio, and even a cell phone inside the presidential suite of VMMC.

Lacson said the court would have the discretion over this matter but if it were up to him, he would allow the former president to have those basic amenities.

“If they ask me, they should just grant her request. She’s still a congresswoman and she probably has to coordinate with her staff and constituents,” Lacson said.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada opposed the granting of Arroyo’s request to use a cellphone and computer, considering that he and his father, former President Estrada, were denied these amenities when they were detained at VMMC in 2001.

Estrada said that all accused should be treated the same way and if they were not allowed to use their phones and computers, then Arroyo should not be treated any differently.

“I was incumbent mayor (of San Juan then) and I wasn’t able to perform my duties and functions as mayor. I was a sitting mayor at that time. All of the accused should be treated equally,” Estrada said.

He said that he has no objections over the installation of a television set or even a radio inside the presidential suite.

Estrada said that Arroyo should even be allowed to cook her own food.

Meanwhile, the urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) assembled at the North Ave. gate of the VMMC to protest the detention of Arroyo at the hospital and demanded that she be detained in an ordinary prison.

“Compared to the case of electoral sabotage during the 2004 election, graft cases such as the canceled national broadband network project deal and the fertilizer fund scam at the Department of Agriculture are relatively stronger that could lead to incarceration of the ex-president,” Kadamay said in a statement,

Carlito Badion, Kadamay vice chairman, said the Aquino administration should not let Arroyo escape other graft cases that hounded the past administration. – With Marvin Sy, Reinir Padua, Christina Mendez