Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is under arrest!

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been put under arrest after a Pasay City regional trial court on Fridays afternoon issued arrest warrants against her and two others hours after the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) filed an electoral sabotage case against them.

According to a report, arrest warrants were also issued against former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and former Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol.

The case is being handled by Judge Hesus Mupas of the regional trial court's Branch 112.

The Arroyo camp on Friday said the Sandiganbayan has jurisdiction over Mrs. Arroyo's case and thus, the anti-graft court should have been the one to issue her arrest order.

However, Republic Act 9369, which amended Article 286 of the Omnibus Election Code, vests exclusive original jurisdiction over cases of electoral sabotage on Regional Trial Courts. Moreover, RA 8249, which prescribes the Sandiganbayan's jurisdiction, does not vest in the anti-graft court jurisdiction over election offenses.

Ampatuan Sr. was arrested shortly after the Maguindanao Massacre in 2009 and has been detained since. The present arrest warrant issued against him is for a different crime - electoral sabotage.

As of Friday night, authorities have served the arrest warrants on Ampatuan who is detained in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig, and on Bedol who is detained in the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame, as well as that of the former President who is confined at the St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig City.

A copy of the court order from Pasay City Regional Trial Court Branch 112 on the issuance of
arrest warrants for former President Gloria Arroyo, Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., and Atty. Lintang
Bedol for the non-bailable offense of electoral sabotage.

Electoral sabotage, when evidence of guilt is strong, is a non-bailable offense.



The camp of Mrs. Arroyo compared the issuance of the arrest warrant against the former Philippine leader to a "bullet train," because it was rushed and was quite fast.

Mrs. Arroyo's legal spokesman, Raul Lambino, said the issuance of the warrant was so soon and smacked of undue haste.

Mrs. Arroyo was still at St. Luke's Hospital and wasn't taken by police because her camp claimed she was unwell and still in bed. Nevertheless, she was guarded 24 hours by the police.

At a press briefing in Malacañang, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said they would not object if Mrs. Arroyo's camp asked for a hospital arrest.

De Lima said she asked President Benigno Aquino III's guidance on the matter and the latter told her to treat the former president with utmost respect in consideration of whatever condition she has.

Aquino is now in Bali, Indonesia attending the 19th ASEAN Summit.

"Hindi kami mago-object sa hospital arrest pero wala sa amin yan, ang desisyon does not lie with us, the complainant, nasa korte yan. Kailangan humingi sila, I think they should get court approval, [We are not going to object, the decision does not lie with us, the complainant, but is for the court. I think they should get court approval]" De Lima told reporters.

She added that as long as Mrs. Arroyo stays in the hospital or at her home, they would not arrest her.

Mrs. Arroyo remains confined at the St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig City.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court spokesman Midas Marquez acknowledged that Mrs. Arroyo can already be prevented from leaving the country in light of an electoral case filed with at the Pasay court.

"The TRO still stands but if you're going to ask if she can still leave, then she is barred because of the warrant of arrest issued by the Pasay court," Marquez said at a press conference in Manila.

Although Mrs. Arroyo is now a congresswoman representing the second district of Pampanga, she can still be arrested even when Congress is in session because under the 1987 Constitution, congressmen can be arrested for crimes punishable by imprisonment of more than six years such as electoral sabotage which is punishable by life imprisonment.

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Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's departure for Singapore prevented!

Former President and incumbent Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo attempted to leave the country Tuesday night, but failed after Immigration officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal I (NAIA-I) stopped her from boarding the day's last flight to Singapore.

This developed hours after the Supreme Court stopped the government from enforcing watch list orders barring Arroyo and her husband from traveling abroad, and an order by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima for Immigration and airport officials to keep Arroyo from leaving the country.

"Kakila-kilabot at karima-rimarim ang ginagawa nila sa dating pangulo [What they were doing to the former president was dreadful]," said Mr. Arroyo's counsel, Ferdinand Topacio, on the government's action against Mrs. Arroyo.

In an interview, Topacio said De Lima's order smacked of disrespect to the Supreme Court. "This is against any norm of human decency," he said.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo or GMA arrived at NAIA from St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig City on board an ambulance and was placed on a wheelchair. A live footage showed that the former president was accompanied by her spokesperson Elena Bautista-Horn and House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman.

The former president was reportedly brought back to St. Luke's Hospital after she was prevented from leaving the country.

Topacio earlier said Mrs. Arroyo will fly to Singapore to seek treatment for her bone mineral disorder. He said the former president might go to Spain if consultations in Singapore fail.

De Lima, at a press briefing earlier in Malacañang, said the watch list orders stay until the government receives a copy of the TRO.

"The reported TRO has not been substantiated to exist pending the receipt by the respondents through the Office of the Solicitor General. Hence, the status quo, which is the existence of the watch list order against the Arroyos remains," she said.

Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez, in a separate interview, said they have sent a copy of the TRO to the DOJ late Tuesday afternoon, but the DOJ allegedly did not accept it because they are already closed.

De Lima, who was Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairperson during the Arroyo administration, said she ordered the Bureau of Immigration and requested Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel Roxas II to direct the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and the NAIA management and personnel to enforce the watch list order.

"They should be on the lookout for the Arroyo couple's attempt to immediately leave the country on the strength of this TRO," De Lima said.



Because of the incident, Arroyo's lawyers said they will file contempt charges against immigration and airport officials first thing Wednesday morning.

According to a source, the former president's husband cried "tyranny" and reiterated their lawyers' threat to cite administration officials in contempt.

Atty. Midas Marquez said if and when the contempt charges are lodged, the Department of Justice and Bureau of Immigration will be asked to show cause why they should not be held in contempt.

The Supreme Court or SC had earlier in the day overturned a government ban imposed last week barring Arroyo from traveling abroad.

SC justices had ruled 8-5 that the travel ban, which also applied to her husband, former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, was unconstitutional because they had not yet been charged with any crime.

"They (Arroyo's lawyers) were able to show that the travel ban would probably work as an injustice against them," spokesman Midas Marquez said.

"This was of course consistent with the constitutional presumption of innocence."

However de Lima insisted that the travel ban would remain in place until the government formally received the high court's decision.

She said government lawyers would file a motion for reconsideration of the court order and expressed hope that they might convince the court to change its mind in a hearing next week.

In an escalating showdown between the branches of government, Marquez then responded to de Lima's comments by issuing a statement insisting the court's order was effective immediately.

"Since they (the Arroyos) have complied with our conditions, they are free to exercise their constitutional rights to travel," he said, warning de Lima may face contempt of court charges.

Arroyo remained inside Manila airport late into the evening on Tuesday, but eventually left after it was clear she would not be allowed to leave the country.

Previous Issues

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was president from 2001 to 2010, faced wide-ranging allegations of corruption and vote-rigging while she was in power.

Aquino, who won presidential elections by a landslide last year on a strong anti-corruption platform, has vowed repeated;y to bring Arroyo to justice and said he wants her to be formally charged before Christmas.

As the deadline for charges loomed, Arroyo said last week she needed to urgently receive medical treatment overseas for what she said was a rare bone disease, following three unsuccessful spine operations in Manila this year.

But Aquino and de Lima said last week that Arroyo could receive adequate medical care at home and they suspected she might be seeking to flee to a country that had no extradition treaty with the Philippines.

Aquino has faced repeated setbacks in his high-profile campaign to bring Arroyo to justice.

In one of the most significant blows, the Supreme Court ruled in December last year that a "truth commission" Aquino set up specifically to investigate Arroyo was unconstitutional.

Arroyo has retained political influence since stepping down as president, partly by winning a seat in the House of Representatives in last year's elections.

Aquino has also accused her of placing allies in positions of power before she stepped down, including justices in the Supreme Court.

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