ShareThisQUEZON CITY – Former President and now Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been re-arrested and detained at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City since last week on new charges of plunder in connection with alleged use of P366 million of intelligence funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office during her watch.
Just days after being cleared for release from the VMMC, Arroyo has been admitted to the government hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) after tests confirmed that she is at risk of a heart attack.
Complaining of chest pains, Mrs. Arroyo was subjected to various tests, the results of which indicated that she is suffering from coronary ischemia which doctors say might lead to a heart attack.
Despite her condition, the government prosecutors said they will press for their petition for the former President to be transferred to the regular jail.
The arrest of Mrs. Arroyo, 65, came immediately after she filed before the Commission on Elections her certificate of candidacy for reelection in the second district of Pampanga through her eldest son, Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo. The former President faces three opponents again in her reelection bid, with one, Vivian Dabu also of her hometown of Lubao, endorsed as the Liberal Party candidate by President Benigno S. Aquino III himself.
Former PCSO general manager Manuel Morato and two others of nine of her co-accused are now under detention. Morato is held at the St. Luke’s Medical Center where he is undergoing treatment for his heart condition while the two others – former Chairman Sergio Valencia and former PCSO Budget and Accounts
Manager Benigno Aguas – were held at the Philippine National Police detention center in Camp Crame.
One of her co-accused, Jose Taruc V, son of prominent broadcaster Joe Taruc of radio DZRH, reportedly fled the country last July 19 and is now being pursued by police authorities.
Other co-accused who are being hunted by police are former PCSO general manager Rosario Uriarte; former PCSO directors Raymundo Roquero and Ma. Fatima Valdes; former Commission on Audit chairman Reynaldo Villar and former COA-Intelligence Fund Unit head Nilda B. Plaras.
At his hospital bed, Morato, who was impleaded to the plunder case as PCSO director, fired back at present PCSO officials who filed the plunder case against him, Mrs. Arroyo and eight others.
Morato, 79, claimed in a statement that the top PCSO officials used nearly P40 million in “leftovers” from the controversial P325 million in the agency’s intelligence funds when they took over in mid-2010.
“The fact remains I was only a PCSO director under then President [Arroyo] so I had nothing to do with the intelligence funds,” Morato said. “Under the law, only the chairman and general manager have access to [those funds].”
The Sandiganbayan issued warrants of arrest for Mrs. Arroyo and nine of her co-accused as it denied their motion to dismiss the plunder raps was denied by the Ombudsman which elevated the case to the graft court.
A visibly frail former President has filed a motion with the Sandiganbayan to allow her “hospital arrest” or continued stay at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center where she is also undergoing treatment citing her health and for humanitarian purposes.
But she faces an opposition to her petition from government prosecutors who sought that she be transferred to a regular jail unless the defense can show proof that she requires hospitalization.
Her lawyers said her medical condition has not improved and she is suffering from complications even after undergoing three major spinal surgeries last year.
VMMC Director Nona Legaspi explained that ischemia is a condition where not enough blood is circulating in the coronary arteries due to blockage.
“Ischemia is the lack of blood going to the heart. For it (the heart) to pump, it needs blood. So when you say ischemia, there is a blood vessel that is somehow blocked,”Legaspi said. “That is something ominous which you just cannot forego.”
“You have to monitor the patient. That’s why we transferred her to the ICU. She is
being given medication,” Legaspi said.
“That can progress to full blown myocardial infraction, or in layman’s term, a heart attack,” said Legaspi, adding that ischemia should not be taken lightly.
“So, considering the forgoing, the patient is not dischargable at this time,” Legaspi said.
While at the ICU, Legaspi said Mrs. Arroyo will not be allowed to engage in any activity.
“We are constantly monitoring her and everybody knows, I think there is no need to overemphasize that the heart is important,” Legaspi said.
It will be recalled that Mrs. Arroyo’s cardiologist had already warned the government that she is vulnerable to having a heart attack and what was needed was for her to immediately undergo surgery abroad for her problem, as she was at that time, said to have choked on her food and that the choking could cause a bloackage on arteries that would stop pumping blood to her heart.
The Tribune reported that the cardiologist had recommended at two doctors abroad who could successfully do the operation.
At the time, President Aquino and his allies were still against it and even questioned the cardiologist’s recommendations as they said he was not an expert in relation to the neck ailment of the former president.
Informed of Mrs. Arroyo’s condition, United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) secretary general, Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco wished the former president well, saying he is praying for her speedy recovery.
“I wish her well and pray for her quick recovery,” Tiangco said.
Anacleto Diaz, counsel for Mrs. Arroyo said they need more time to prepare the petition for certiorari and prohibition before the SC, thus, the need to defer the arraignment on Monday.
With regard to Mrs. Arroyo’s petition for hospital arrest, her lawyers bared they want Legaspi to testify and present Mrs. Arroyo’s medical records before the Sandiganbayan when the court hears the former president’s motion for hospital on Oct. 18, which the anti-graft court granted by issuing summon for the VMMC director.
The Sandiganbayan was scheduled to act in a hearing on the motion of Mrs. Arroyo and the opposition of the government prosecutors.
Mrs. Arroyo is suffering from a degenerative bone disease and doctors at the VMMC said she needed bed rest to treat her dehydration and body weakness.
“What’s sauce for the goose should also be sauce for the gander. There should be no special treatment. Anyway she has been previously discharged (from the hospital) on the advice of her doctors,” said Diosdado Calonga, lead prosecutor in the case.
Arroyo was indicted for plunder in connection with alleged fraudulent transfer of P366 million confidential/intelligence fund of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office from 2008 to 2010..
In a motion filed late Monday, Arroyo’s lawyers Maria Rosario del Rosario and Analene Balisong argued that the life of the 65-year-old former President would be in danger if she is placed in a regular jail.
They recited the dates of her frequent hospitalization due to various ailments including a recurrent spine problem, hypertension, dehydration, drastic weight loss and inability to swallow.
“Accused GMA (Arroyo) is not medically fit to be detained in a non-medical facility. (She) pleads that as she faces the charges against her, she be accorded full opportunity to restore her health so that she may properly defend herself,” the laywers said.
The lawyers stressed that with her immobility due to her medical condition and a Hold Departure Order already in place against her, Arroyo’s escape is “highly improbable or almost impossible.”
Arroyo’s laywers told the Sandiganbayan that to detain the former president in a regular or ordinary detention facility “will expose her to the undeserved hazards and risks to her personal security and health, and the State, from burdensome administrative responsibilities and unnecessary expenditure her detention in a regular prison cell will entail.”
Denying her a chance to have regular and continuing medical care could render Arroyo disabled for the rest of her life and place her in peril of “sudden death”, her lawyers warned.
The Sandiganbayan has set the arraignment of Arroyo, Valencia and Aguas on October 15, 2012 at 8:30 a.m.
The former President is also facing other plunder charges and an election sabotage case before the Regional Trial Court in Pasay City.
Mrs. Arroyo on Tuesday won a reprieve at the Pasay RTC when Judge Jesus Mupas denied the motion of the Commission on Elections to recall the P1-million bail granted to Mrs. Arroyo on her electoral sabotage case in connection with the 2007 midterm elections.
Judge Mupas said the Comelec prosecutors failed to present any new evidence to prove they have a strong case against the former leader.