MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 18, 2011) – A Philippine court has ordered the arrest Friday of former Filipino leader and now Congresswoman Gloria Arroyo on charges of electoral sabotage.
The order also prevented Arroyo and her husband from leaving the country for medical treatment for a rare bone disease.
Arroyo, who is also facing plunder charges, is currently in hospital where she is resting after authorities prevented her from flying out of the country earlier this week for fear that she would not return home to face investigations.
The lawmaker wanted to travel to at least 5 countries where the Philippines has no extradition treaty.
Secretary of Justice Leila de Lima said the Pasay Regional Trial Court branch 112 issued a warrant of arrest for Arroyo, after reviewing the electoral sabotage case filed by the Commission on Elections.
“In light of this recent development, the issues surrounding the Temporary Restraining Order from the Supreme Court have become moot and academic. Thus, Mrs. Arroyo is compelled to stay in the country, and face the charges of electoral sabotage filed against her, bringing us closer to uncovering the truth behind the controversies surrounding the 2007 elections,” De Lima said.
The Supreme Court, whose justices were mostly appointed by Arroyo, earlier issued a Temporary Restraining Order lifting a government ban that prevented her from leaving the country.
“Rest assured that throughout the judicial process, the government will exercise fairness and impartiality, and will uphold every right that Mrs. Arroyo, as an accused, is entitled to under the constitution,” De Lima said.
“For a legal proceeding that has great implications, not just to the integrity of our electoral system, but also to the very principles of our nation’s democracy, it is our desire that truth and accountability prevail, and that the Filipino people are finally given the justice they truly deserve,” she added.
Congressman Teddy Casiño praised the court for the arrest order on Arroyo. “We hope the proper case will result today in the detention of the accused or at the very least a denial of an allow departure order by the court. The people waited for years to hold Gloria Arroyo to account – they will not allow her to escape this time without a fight,” he said.
An activist migrant’ rights group, Migrante-Middle East, also called on Filipinos in the Philippines and abroad to stay vigilant and prevent the Arroyos from leaving the country so she could face all criminal charges against her.
“The Filipino people must frustrate the Arroyo couple in its attempt leaving the country to effect its ‘great escape’ from justice and prosecution on several crimes they’ve committed against the Filipino people as it rely on the ruling of the majority of the Arroyo-appointed Supreme Court; but wherever they are OFWs activists will chase them,” John Leonard Monterona, the group’s regional coordinator, said.
Arroyo was accused of cheating in presidential polls along with other senior government officials. (Mindanao Examiner)
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