Court allows Arroyo to visit home for 7 days

MANILA, Philippines — Anti-graft court Sandiganbayan granted the motion of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to be present for her family as they mourn the death of her grandson.

In a resolution issued Tuesday morning, Associate Justice Efren de la Cruz of the Sandiganbayan First Division denied Arroyo's plea to be placed under house arrest and instead allowed her to visit home for a few hours for seven days.

The resolution states that the plunder respondent may attend the wake and internment of 13-month-old Jorge Alonso, the youngest son of Luli Arroyo and Luigi Bernas, who died from a heart disorder.

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De la Cruz also directed Philippine National Police chief Gen. Alan Purisima and court sheriffs to provide "adequate personal escorts and security measures in all movements and dispositions of accused Arroyo."
Arroyo will be brought from the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, where she has been under hospital arrest, to the Macapagal family's ancestral home in North Forbes Park, Makati City.

Arroyo, a representative of Pampanga, may only stay in the residence for the wake from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. from November 4 to November 9.

On November 10, Arroyo is granted an eight-hour stay at the Sanctuario de San Antonio Columbarium for the funeral and cremation of her grandson.

The magistrate banned Arroyo from using cell phones, Internet and other means of communication and granting interviews with members of the media.

De La Cruz also ordered Arroyo and her family to shoulder the expenses of the police in the transfer procedures.