MANILA, Philippines - The lawyers of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have not presented enough evidence to support her bid for house arrest, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said yesterday.
“There is no basis anymore for her continuous hospital confinement. If there is no basis for hospital arrest, there is less reason for house arrest,” De Lima told reporters at Camp Karingal in Quezon City yesterday.
She said it was still up to the court to decide on which detention arrangement would be appropriate for the former president.
“They (Arroyo’s lawyers) have not cited a reason yet (for house arrest),” De Lima said. “They have to convince the court that house arrest is the best arrangement.”
She said the fact that the doctors of the Pampanga lawmaker have manifested that she could be treated on an outpatient basis shows that the house arrest arrangement is no longer warranted.
The prosecution panel from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday asked a Pasay City court for Arroyo’s immediate transfer from the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City to a local jail, preferably at the jail facility of the Southern Police District.
Judge Jesus Mupas of the Regional Trial Court Branch 112 is hearing the electoral sabotage case filed against the former president.
On the same day, Arroyo’s lawyers withdrew their motion seeking hospital arrest after a doctor testified that the former president was already fit to go home.
Dr. Mario Ver, the orthopedic spine surgeon of Arroyo, testified that the congresswoman is now recovering and could be treated as an outpatient and her full recovery is expected after several weeks.
Mupas gave both the prosecution and defense panels until Monday to submit their respective motions on the issue before a ruling would be rendered.
The Comelec filed electoral sabotage charges against Arroyo, former provincial elections supervisor Lintang Bedol, and former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. for allegedly rigging the senatorial elections in Maguindanao in 2007.
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