Senate probes on ailing Arroyos to continue

MANILA, Philippines - Despite appeals from some bishops and other parties to go easy on the ailing Arroyo couple, the Senate shall continue to probe accusations of corruption during the past Arroyo presidency.

Sen. Franklin Drilon said there shall be no let up in the ongoing investigations of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee into the alleged corruptions during the 9-year rule of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former first gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo.

“In legal matters, the preparation for the (filing of) charges cannot be stopped due to health reasons or one’s health condition,” Drilon, a stalwart of the ruling Liberal Party, said yesterday.

“However, once you have filed the case, trial can be set aside initially because the presence of the accused is essential (during trial), which is part of our due process,” Drilon said. “If an accused cannot appear because of a disease or sickness, then the judge defers the trial of the case,” he explained.

Drilon was reacting to calls from retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz for senators to go easy on the ailing Mrs. Arroyo in the spirit of Christian compassion. “Let her rest for the meantime, recover from her illness and once she’s okay again, then continue the investigations,” Cruz said on Saturday.

But the senators are unperturbed and have shown the same determination in dredging up more evidence of graft against former first gentleman Mike Arroyo.

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee is investigating Mr. Arroyo for his possible ownership of two helicopters passed off as new and sold to the Philippine National Police. Mr. Arroyo had declared he would not attend the Senate hearing saying a stressful situation might endanger his health.

Drilon said the Senate might just go ahead with gathering evidence and filing charges against the former first gentleman if he persisted in avoiding a Senate probe.

Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, for his part, said authorities should leave no stone unturned in the investigations into allegations of corruption during the nine-year Arroyo administration.

He called the “Hello, Garci” scandal the “mother of all scams” that the Aquino administration should not allow to go unpunished.

Cayetano said Mr. Arroyo may still get to directly answer queries from senators without having to show up at the Senate through video call.

“You can’t question an affidavit,” the minority leader said. He said it’s not the senators’ intention to endanger Mr. Arroyo’s health.

“What is important for me is that we can ask him directly, and he can reply at once. If this can be done physically or not, maybe we can bend the rules,” Cayetano said, adding that his colleagues should decide on the matter.

“His health is important to us, we do not mean harm to any of the witnesses but allow the Senate to just do our job, and allow us to ask the vital questions,” Cayetano said.

He noted that even former US President Bill Clinton had to answer questions from the House of Representatives through a video call when he was impeached on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in 1999. The charges arose from the Lewinsky scandal and the Paul Jones lawsuit. Clinton was eventually acquitted by the US Senate.

Meanwhile, Drilon said the inclusion of LionAir president and Asian Spirit owner Archibald Po in the government’s witness protection program - as recommended to the Department of Justice - will possibly render the Arroyo camp’s perjury charges against Po useless.

“In my view, there is no way that Mike Arroyo could disprove the fact that he was the real owner of the choppers. If he would insist that he disowns the choppers, then he should execute an affidavit holding Archibald Po and LionAir free and harmless of any liability in the event that Mr. Po donates the helicopters to the PNP,” Drilon said in a radio interview.

Malacañang said it was surprised to learn from a lawyer of Mrs. Arroyo and not from an official medical bulletin that she had been advised to seek further medical help either in London or Singapore.

“Well, this is the first time that we have heard of this development through the legal spokesperson. Her doctors have not yet issued any medical bulletin to this effect,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

Lawyer Raul Lambino earlier told reporters that doctors from St. Luke’s had advised Arroyo to get medical treatment abroad but that she had chosen to remain in the country to quash speculations that she had been trying to avoid being investigated for corruption and election cheating.

“Sensitive siya sa public opinion e. Sinasabi niya, Kapag ako umalis sa bansa, sasabihin nila tinatakbuhan ko itong (She’s sensitive to public opinion, she’s saying that if she leaves the country, they might say she’s running away from) accusations against her. To the extent of maybe putting her life in danger,” said Lambino. But yesterday, Lambino denied he was the source of such information and even lambasted her detractors for “brazen disregard for good manners and right conduct” for embarking on “massive disinformation attack” on the former president.

Mrs. Arroyo is in the Bureau of Immigration’s watchlist.

Mrs. Arroyo was scheduled for surgery last Aug. 10 to correct the dislodged titanium implants in her spine. The operation, however, was called off after doctors discovered an infection.

She said it’s up to the justice department to decide whether to drop Mrs. Arroyo from the watchlist.

“So far we have not heard of any changes coming from the end of the DOJ and should the doctors come out with a medical bulletin and say that they recommend further treatment elsewhere than Manila, then we will defer to (Justice Secretary Leila) De Lima’s judgment,” she said.

“We will defer to the judgment of Secretary De Lima on this matter because, of course, there are issues on the watchlist that need to be tackled,” Valte told radio dzRB.

On Mrs. Arroyo’s reported preference for treatment abroad, Valte said “it’s something that is beyond our control.

“That is something that she will have to decide on her own,” Valte said.

“When it comes to health, of course, the person, whoever is sick has the freedom depending on her means to get the best medical treatment that is possible and that is very subjective. It’s up to her to address her health problems,” Valte said.

Lambino denied circulating text messages that Arroyo was in critical condition and already paralyzed.

“While she’s confined at the St. Luke’s hospital battling post surgical infection on her cervical spine, rumors are circulating in text messages and some media reports such as that she is in a very critical condition, already paralyzed,” he said in a text message.

“Worse, some have irresponsibly attributed these statements as emanating from me which I heretofore categorically deny saying them,” Lambino said.

“The Arroyo family is suffering much for the pains caused by the incessant political vilification and harassment suits against them… expounded in the media by the Aquino government,” his text message read.

“These (information) came from the supporters, not from the doctors,” Lambino later said in a phone interview with The STAR.

“This latest barrage of attacks by the government of imputing malice upon the medical condition of former PGMA and her husband as just mere ploy to evade the ongoing probes is unchristian-like and merciless,” he added. (From philstar.com)