Tag Archives: Jose Miguel Arroyo

[In the Web] Trillanes lawyer: Treat Gloria Arroyo the way her government treated my client

Posted on by dars0357

Will CGMA be prosecuted like Sen. Trillanes? Photo from http://innaga.blogspot.com.

by Raissa Robles

When Senator Antonio Trillanes was in detention for a capital crime, he was banned from using the Internet and mobile phone by a regional trial court judge.

Trillanes appealed the ban but the government of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo successfully blocked this, as well as his request to physically attend Senate sessions.

That was four years ago. Now the shoe is on the other foot.

Today Congresswoman Arroyo (CGMA) is the one in detention for a capital crime and a regional trial court judge recently barred her mobile and Internet access.

This prohibition prompted her husband-lawyer Mike to send my former Philippine Star colleague Jess Diaz the following text message:

Why is the government trying to isolate and cut off CGMA’s communication line with the outside world as if she’s a convicted criminal already?

This is another assault on her constitutional rights, much more an unlawful obstruction of her right to perform her function as an elected representative of her district in Pampanga.

When will this oppression stop?

Mike Arroyo’s rant seems to have ignored what his wife did to Trillanes and how that might have set a precedent on how courts should treat detained lawmakers facing non-bailable charges.

Trillanes’ lawyer Reynaldo Robles told me in an interview:

When the senator was in jail we made a (court) request for him to use the Internet and a cellphone. He was not allowed. Now, if they change the rules just because of former President Arroyo, obviously they are not being objective anymore.

This (request for Internet and phone access) is the ultimate test of (the court’s) objectivity.

Please read full article at http://raissarobles.com/2011/12/05/trillanes-lawyer-treat-gloria-arroyo-the-way-her-government-treated-my-client/

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[In the Web] Glacial pace of Maguindanao Massacre trial

Posted on by dars0357

Justice for Victims of Ampatuan Massacre. Image from http://newscoreonline.blogspot.com.

Big Deal

by Dan Mariano

Up until the last three years of her presidency, Gloria M. Arroyo was able to “manage” her relations with the media. Some journalists were perhaps impressed with her administration’s economic performance and genuinely wished it success; others were placated with the usual accommodations and sinecures that government officials have long plied press-card holders in this country.
The relations began to sour, however, following the 2005 “Hello, Garci” scandal and the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege when dozens of journalists were flex-cuffed by police just because they were covering the incident.

In addition, the flurry of libel suits filed by GMA administration figures—including then-first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and then-GSIS boss Winston Garcia—against reporters, editors, publishers, commentators and columnists further convinced the Fourth Estate that Mrs. Arroyo and her underlings despised the free media and would like nothing better than to silence critics in newspapers, TV, radio and the Internet.

Few, however, suspected that some quarters close to her had planned to silence pesky journalists literally, permanently and in such devastating fashion.

As hostile and contemptuous as GMA was toward the news media, even her most rabid detractors could not imagine that the massacre of 58 people—mostly media workers—in Maguindanao could ever take place in this country. But the alleged butchers were led by a political warlord whom she had relied on to manipulate election results.

Were it not for their political partnership with GMA, would the Ampatuans have been so emboldened as to even contemplate such an atrocity—and believe that they could get away with?

There were signs that soon after word of the November 23, 2009 killings reached Manila the then-president had tried to shield the Ampatuans. When it became obvious that a cover-up had become impossible, the GMA administration dragged its feet in prosecuting the alleged killers—so much so that to this day the case is still pending.

The case is being heard by a supposedly special court that continues to operate in the usual snail’s pace of ordinary tribunals. The Supreme Court is still under the sway of GMA appointees who apparently regard her with fondness—or more.

No wonder then that the leadership of the judiciary seems perfectly willing to let the so-called special court to just muddle along in the face of the widespread outrage, both here and abroad, that the Maguindanao massacre drew.

Court rules
The cadence of the court case has been so glacial that legal experts, like former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., see the trial dragging on for another year or two—“unless a miracle happens.”

In a recent statement coursed through the Pimentel Center for Local Governance, Nene noted: “As of last week, the prosecution and the defense panels were reportedly squabbling over the number of days every week that should be set aside for the trial of the case.”

The trial judge had reportedly set two days a week for the hearing of the case. A defense lawyer suggested that one more day be added to the weekly trial dates. “Surprisingly, a prosecutor reportedly retorted that another day would be unacceptable because she had other cases to attend to,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel observed that “the speedy justice that the Bill of Rights of the Constitution guarantees to litigants, especially, in criminal cases is being cast aside for the comfort and convenience of the legal panels.”

He clarified, however: “By no means is the judge handling the case being blamed for the delays in the trial of the case. From afar, it looks like the judge, who is a lady, is evenhanded.”

The traditionally laidback dispensation of justice in this country has marked even the Ampatuan trial, giving rise to suggestions for the adoption of a jury system.

Read more at http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/opinion/columnist1/11851-glacial-pace-of-maguindanao-massacre-trial
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[In the Web] Former Philippine President Gloria Arroyo arrested on fraud charges

Posted on by dars0357

November 18th after being arrested in the hospital she was currently admitted in for charges of election fraud. Photo from bakitwhy.com

MANILA (BNO NEWS) — Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was arrested at a Manila hospital on Friday on charges of electoral fraud, preventing her departure from the country to seek medical treatment.

Incumbent President Benigno Aquino and his government have long accused Arroyo of corruption during her two terms in office, from 2001 until 2010. However, authorities had not formally charged her until Friday because prosecutors said they wanted to make sure the evidence is strong enough.

“Today, the Pasay Regional Trial Court branch 112 issued a warrant of arrest for Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, after reviewing the electoral sabotage case filed by the COMELEC (Commission on Elections),” said Secretary of Justice Leila de Lima.

“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.” Senior Superintendent Franklin Bucayu, head of the Southern Police District, told a news briefing outside St Luke’s Hospital that Arroyo is now in police custody.

“The arrest warrant has been served. We tried to read her rights but her lawyers waived it because of her conditions. She smiled at us and she was expecting it,” Bucayu said.

The arrest comes just days after the Supreme Court issued an order which allowed Arroyo to leave the country to seek medical treatment for a rare bone disease. It allowed her to travel to at least five countries where the Philippines has no extradition treaty, meaning Arroyo could have found refuge there to escape charges in the Philippines.

But the Philippine government refused to comply with the court order and instructed immigration officials to stop Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo from boarding a flight to Singapore.

Officials said the fact that Arroyo went straight to the airport following the court decision only heightened the government’s suspicion that they intended to evade charges.

 

Read full article at http://news.rickey.org/former-philippine-president-gloria-arroyo-arrested-on-fraud-charges/6291

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[In the Web] Arroyo’s pleas political, not human rights issue

Posted on by dars0357

Former Philippine president Gloria Arroyo, wearing head and neck brace, asks to leave the country for medical treatment. Photo: AP Source: AP

By: *

It would be the supreme irony to allow GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Aroyo) to invoke our most sacred human rights protections to escape justice. That would be her supreme, final perversion of our democratic institutions. While countless voices have correctly quoted human rights law, our democracy must recognize GMA’s pleas as a political, not human rights, issue.

Our Bill of Rights is our democracy’s greatest triumph. It is “counter-majoritarian”; it empowers the weakest member of our society to stand against the most powerful members. Wind and sunshine may enter the humblest hovel, but the king must first knock at the door.

The Bill of Rights is applied by the courts with very strict scrutiny in favor of the disadvantaged for whom “those political processes ordinarily to be relied upon to protect minorities” historically do not work: From the Maguindanao massacre victims to millions of starving children who might be fed and clothed with the money from the fertilizer and ZTE scams.

That is why we must pierce legal rhetoric to see what is really at stake.

Portrayed as victim

One, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been portrayed as the victim boxed into a corner and fighting for her survival. Lest we forget, the supposed underdog here is a former President and now a member of the Philippine Congress, with loyal allies and appointees in high places, with a formidable war chest at her disposal, much of it our own money, the criminal complaints say. She is not a political nobody by any stretch of the imagination.

Two, if there was any legal sleight of hand, it lies in the TRO, which consolidated the separate cases of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Jose Miguel Arroyo. In a discussion of this case with some law school classmates, it was asked: How did Mike get to benefit from Gloria’s medical emergency?

Political solution

I would be the first to call for the rule of law, but the image of GMA the human rights victim gives pause. As the Inquirer’s editorial called for, this issue needs a political, not a strictly legal, solution. We must stop looking at the neckbrace and wheelchair in a vacuum and allow our democracy’s checks and balances to play out at the very highest level.

It has been said that the Supreme Court can withstand defiance, but it cannot withstand ridicule, and the Arroyo court has clearly dissipated its reservoir of public trust. The ultimate guardian of our Constitution is “We the People.”

What De Lima is really doing is, beyond the Constitution’s explicit text, asking people to recognize that this is really a political issue. President Aquino seems willing to be judged by history alongside Arroyo and the Arroyo court. Perhaps we should let him.

Legit President checks SC

The textbooks say that to condone a secretary of justice ignoring a Supreme Court order is to go down a slippery slope. However, history has shown that when the referee is punching alongside a boxer, the Filipino people have been ready to throw away the rulebook and reclaim their ultimate authority at Edsa.

Faced with GMA as human rights victim, this is not the best time to demonstrate our commitment to rule of law, to grant a reviled former President her fundamental right to travel, but the worst time, to allow her to escape with impunity in a final, irreparable mockery of the rule of law.

 

*Raul C. Pangalangan- former dean UP College of Law, currently Professor of Constitutional and Political Law at the UP College of Law

 

Read full article at http://opinion.inquirer.net/17515/arroyo%E2%80%99s-pleas-political-not-human-rights-issue

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[In the Web] Whose right to travel?

Posted on by dars0357

Sen. Santiago: GMA's right to travel is a Constitutional issue, plain and simple. Photo from interaksyon.com.

 

By Manuel Buencamino*

I was moved by Elena’s response to President Aquino’s magnanimous offer. Maybe it was because I was listening to lawyers who were arguing the right to travel in broad constitutional strokes. Yeah, I thought if the government can do this to Gloria Arroyo they can also do it to me. And then I remembered that I’m not being investigated for plunder, qualified theft, graft and corruption, malversation and/or illegal use of public funds, electoral sabotage, violation of the Omnibus Election Code and Comelec rules and regulations, and violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials.

I hope that if the Supreme Court rules in favor of Gloria’s right to travel, it does not do so believing it is doing us a favor, that it is also safeguarding our constitutional right to travel. Because the circumstances that apply to her do not apply to us. We are not under investigation for any of the crimes she is being charged with. We are not Gloria.

Consequently, the propaganda about Gloria’s petition for a TRO being about “karapatan ng taong bayan” is crap. The TRO is intended only to facilitate the departure of Gloria, her husband, and their dozens of cohorts out of the grasp of the law before they are arraigned. TRO in their case stands for The Ramona (Bautista) Option.

But what about the presumption of innocence that Mike Arroyo claims they deserve? I believe in the principle but not in absolute terms. When I see someone sneak up behind a person and shoot him in the back of the head, my presumption of innocence is suspended. When I see someone snatch a handbag and flee, I suspend my presumption of innocence and I shout, “Stop thief!”

The same goes when I hear Gloria Arroyo on the phone with Virgilio Garcillano. I’m not going to allow a lawyer bamboozle me with an argument that she cannot be charged because the tapped phone call cannot be used in court. I heard what I heard and I shout “Cheater!”

As far as I’m concerned someone like that is a threat to national security, public safety, and public health. National security because anybody who messes with elections undermines the very essence of our democracy. Public safety because unfettered corruption breeds a climate of impunity where those in power have no qualms about mowing down 58 innocents on a desolate Maguindanao hilltop or murdering a whistle blower like Marlene Garcia-Esperat while she was enjoying dinner with her children. Public health because corruption is not only contagious, it also leads to an epidemic of uncontrolled vomiting and diarrhea.

The other thing that got me is the protest against President Aquino’s offer to foot the bill for foreign doctors to treat Gloria Arroyo here. The argument goes, “why should public money be spent for her?”

I’ll tell you why. First, Noynoy Aquino was elected because he promised not only “Daang Matuwid” but also to hold the previous administration to account. Erap Estrada came in second because people believed he would also settle scores with Gloria. The other candidates had very poor showings because they promised everything except justice. To repeat, Aquino’s mandate was to settle accounts. Second, prosecuting the wrongdoers of the previous administration will entail the use of taxpayers’ money. Now if it is all right to use taxpayers’ money to prosecute her, why is it not all right to use taxpayers’ money to makesure she is kept here so that she can be prosecuted?

 

*Manuel Buencamino

Buencamino was a weekly columnist for Today and Business Mirror. He has also written articles in other publications like Malaya, Newsbreak, “Yellow Pad” in Business World, and “Talk of the Town” in the Inquirer. He is currently with Interaksyon, the news site of TV5. MB blogged for Filipino Voices, blogs for ProPinoy and maintains a blog, Uniffors.com. Game-changers for him, as far as music goes, are Monk, Miles, Jimi, and Santana.

Read full article at http://propinoy.net/2011/11/16/whose-right-to-travel/

 

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[In the Web] Lawmakers air mixed reactions on the TRO issued to GMA

Posted on by dars0357

Ex-Pres. Gloria Arroyo arrives at the NAIA Tuesday night in an attempt to leave the country after the SC issued a TRO on the watch list order against her. Photo from GMA News

Lawmakers on Tuesday expressed mixed reaction on the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued earlier by the Supreme Court (SC) which allows former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to leave and seek medical treatment abroad.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the High Court’s TRO decision should be followed and that it “conforms to the rules of the House.”

“I personally believe that the temporary restraining order should be followed, and that the ex-president should be allowed to leave,” said Belmonte in a chance interview.

Belmonte, however, said the House of Representatives is “powerless” to compel the former president to go back to the country once the travel authority lapses.

“I personally believe that it is in her (Arroyo) best interest to come back and present their side in all of these things. I believe that flight is an admission of guilt,” he said.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teddy Casino said he was “utterly disappointed” at the SC decision to issue a TRO that in effect allows the former president to leave the country.

“This jeopardizes current efforts to hold her accountable for her crimes against the people,” he said in a chance interview.

He said they are even more disappointed at the way the DoJ “has apparently bungled efforts to bring GMA to justice. Its slow action on cases we filed as early as the first day GMA lost her immunity has brought us to what could have been an avoidable dilemma — the questionable use of a DoJ watch list as a de facto hold departure order.”

For his part, Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares said he was surprised that the SC issued TRO to the former president.

“I was surprised that the SC issued a TRO. I was not expecting that they would do that considering that they could have called for oral arguments and they should also have called on the government for additional documents on the case,” he said.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Kaka Bag-ao, on the other hand, said the TRO issued by the Supreme Court against the DoJ’s watch list order “effectively opens an escape hatch for GMA to evade prosecution.”

“Should GMA and her cohorts leave the country and refuse to return and face charges of corruption and poll fraud against her, the SC justices should be prepared to face the political consequences of their decision today,” she said.

Meanwhile, Cagayan Rep. Jacky Ponce Enrile said the issuance of a TRO by the High Court to Mrs. Arroyo has once again “demonstrated its independence, wisdom and loyalty to the Constitution.”

“By upholding one individual’s rights, it has guaranteed to each and every Filipino an impenetrable refuge wherein our own rights cannot be trampled upon,” he said.

House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman also said the Supremacy of the Constitution over partisan importuning “has once again been upheld by the Supreme Court.”

“The decision of the Supreme Court reversing the ruling of Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to hold the departure of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her husband, Atty. Jose Miguel Arroyo, is a signal of triumph of civil liberties, particularly the right to travel and presumption of innocence,” said Lagman in a statement.

Read full story at http://philippinetimesofsouthernnevada.com/news/the-philippines/lawmakers-air-mixed-reactions-on-the-tro-issued-to-gma/

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