Palace hands off on GMA legal woes

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday steered clear of the legal woes besetting former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who remains detained although the Sandiganbayan has allowed nearly all of her co-accused to post bail.

Press Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the issue is now being heard in court and it’s not appropriate to comment on the case.

Coloma was referring to the plunder case filed against the predecessor of President Aquino, wherein Arroyo has been accused of pocketing P360 million in intelligence funds from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) during her term.

Lawyer Estelito Mendoza, a counsel for Arroyo, has warned that the interpretation given by the Sandiganbayan on her plunder case will also be applicable to Aquino’s invalidated Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

Arroyo is under hospital arrest for the non-bailable offense of plunder.

Only Arroyo and another defendant in the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan have so far remained in jail while the rest of their co-accused – with whom government prosecutors said they had conspired – have been released and their cases dismissed.

Arroyo’s former associate Rey Roquero and several other co-accused have filed a demurrer to evidence in August 2014 before the Sandiganbayan that granted the plea in February this year.

This means the court granted the defense’s move to have the non-bailable case dismissed on the ground that the prosecution panel failed to prove their guilt, thereby negating the need for the accused (Roqueroa and others) to defend themselves in court.

Sandiganbayan justices have repeatedly denied Arroyo’s bail petition, despite the favorable ruling they have accorded to almost all of the accused.

In November 2011, despite the absence of any case filed against Arroyo, immigration authorities prevented her from leaving the Ninoy Aquino International Airport that was an alleged violation of her right to travel.

The following day, the Commission on Elections filed against Arroyo a non-bailable case of electoral sabotage in connection with the May 2007 senatorial polls.

Within the day itself, the Pasay regional trial court issued a warrant for her arrest.

When Judge Jesus Mupas granted bail to Arroyo in October 2012, the Aquino administration then filed the PCSO plunder case just as she was about to be released from detention, thus keeping her in jail – this time for a second non-bailable case.

This despite the recommendation of a panel of Ombudsman probers that Arroyo be indicted only for technical malversation owing to the absence of clear evidence for plunder but which current Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales reversed.