ShareThisMANILA — Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo did not show up for the third time on Monday in the preliminary investigation of the plunder charges filed against her in connection with the alleged misuse of welfare funds which was intended for migrant workers during her administration.
Mrs. Arroyo failed to appear before the Department of Justice (DOJ) panel of prosecutors’ hearing wherein she is supposed to swear and subscribe to the authenticity of her counter-affidavit.
According to her lawyer, Benjamin Santos, the Pampanga lawmaker is still abroad.
“She was supposed to have returned in the middle of last week, but she had other matters to attend to. It is not our intention to delay the proceedings,” Santos told the DOJ panel.
Rep. Arroyo
“We would like to assure the honorable hearing panel that she’ll be coming within this week and therefore, as soon as she arrives, we are going to have her sign before the panel or a representative that a panel will be designating, that she will swear to her counter-affidavit,” Santos said.
Santos said that the plunder charges against Mrs. Arroyo should be junked for being baseless.
The lawyer of complainant former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez, Atty. Andre de Jesus, objected to Santos’ request for an extension in the filing of Arroyo’s counter-affidavit.
“I am quite surprised about the manifestation of the good counsel,” De Jesus said.
“This is the third time that the good counsel for respondent Arroyo has requested for a resetting of the case despite an express commitment (last June 23). I’d like the records to reflect the vehement objection to the said motion of the good counsel for respondent Arroyo,” De Jesus said.
Because of this, the DOJ gave Mrs. Arroyo until July 22, 2011 to file her counter-affidavit and appear personally before the panel.
Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Lilian Doris Alejo, a member of the panel of prosecutors, said that failure to appear on July 22 would force the panel to submit the (plunder) complaint for resolution.
During Monday’s hearing, former PhilHealth president and now Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chairman Francisco Duque III and former Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas submitted their respective counter-affidavits.
The other respondents, former Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo and former Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) chief Virgilio Angelo, submitted their respective counter-affidavits through their lawyers.