MANILA, Philippines - The spokesperson of the Supreme Court (SC) has disowned responsibility for the confusion surrounding Monday’s issuance of the temporary restraining order (TRO) on the plunder case against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and nine others in the Sandiganbayan.
Lawyer Ma. Victoria Gleoresty Guerra, acting chief of the SC public information office, blamed the gaffe on supposed “miswording” in the TRO issued by the SC Third Division in favor of Arroyo’s co-accused, former Commission on Audit Intelligence Fund Unit head Nilda Plaras.
Aside from Plaras, Arroyo’s other co-accused in the P365.9-million plunder case involving Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) funds include former PCSO chairman Sergio Valencia, former PCSO vice chairman/general manager Rosario Uriarte, members of the PCSO Board of Directors Manuel Morato, Jose Taruc V, Raymundo Roquero, and Ma. Fatima Valdes, former PCSO budgets and accounts manager Benigno Aguas, and former COA chairman Reynaldo Villar.
Guerra was referring to the phrase “among others” that was attached to the name of Plaras in the SC resolution, which she interpreted as applicable also to Arroyo.
She announced in the morning that the TRO applied to the case of Arroyo, but backtracked in the afternoon after clarifying with the justices of the Third Division.
She did not apologize for the confusion and said that “what’s important is that the clarification was made.”
Guerra, who has been with the SC since 1994, claimed that they have already “taken steps so that it won’t happen again.”
Since Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno assumed her post and implemented her policy of “dignified silence,” the SC PIO has not been conducting regular press briefings to address queries of the media on decisions and orders of the court that sometimes stump non-lawyers.