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

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/

Related articles

Leave a comment