VINDICTIVENESS IN AQUINO'S HEART
MANILA, NOVEMBER 28,
2011 (BULLETIN) By MADEL R. SABATER — Malacañang assured
the public Saturday that due process of law will be accorded
President-turned-Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and that President
Benigno S. Aquino III is not keen on using his executive powers for political
persecution, but for ensuring accountability.
"Government is in a position to do so many things; to abuse (its) power, but
that is not the style of President Aquino," said Deputy Presidential
Spokesperson Abigail Valte. "Sinusundan lang po natin 'yung tamang proseso [We
are just following due process]."
Valte said the President believes that the battleground for Mrs. Arroyo's
case is in the court.
"This is not about vindictiveness. This is not about political persecution.
This is about accountability. Matagal na pong sinasabi ng kampo ng dating
Pangulong Arroyo na handa raw po nilang harapin kung mayroon po mang kasong
isasampa laban sa kanila (The camp of former President Arroyo has long assumed
readiness to face any case filed against them) — this is that day. They will
have their day in court," she said.
Aquino's predecessor is charged with electoral sabotage before the Pasay City
Regional Trial Court (RTC) in connection with the supposed rigging of election
results in the senatorial elections of 2007 in Maguindanao province.
Asked if Mrs. Arroyo will be treated the same way as former President Joseph
Estrada when he was incarcerated in Tanay, Rizal, after being charged with
plunder, Valte said the decision would be "up to the Pasay City RTC."
"As the President said, (he) will not comment or make our preferences known
in the first place because it is the discretion of the judge. And even the
President himself has said that we would not like to influence the prosecution
in any way and be accused of various things
like railroading (or) exerting undue pressure. So, at this point, it's left
to the court," she said.
Valte said that includes the decision on whether or not Mrs. Arroyo will be
transferred to a detention facility before Christmas.
"Ultimately, it is up to the trial court judge to really decide. Wala na po
tayong say or wala na po tayong papel, so to speak, sa usaping 'yan (We have no
say or any role, so to speak, in that matter [of detention])," she said.
The Palace official added that as it is the Commission on Elections (Comelec)
panel's duty to pursue the case in court, so does Arroyo have the right to the
services of her defense lawyers.
"We will afford every right that is due to the former President as an accused
as under the Constitution and our laws," Valte said.
Former President Arroyo was charged with electoral sabotage before the Pasay
RTC last Nov. 18 in connection with allegede poll fraud in 2007. She was issued
warrant of arrest that same day, preventing her from leaving the country for
medical treatment.
Arroyo's lawyers had filed for a motion for house arrest as the former
President's doctors had said she is already fit to go home and continue
treatment as an out-patient.
Vice President Jejomar C. Binay defended the President from criticisms that
his government has "little compassion" for the ailing former President.
Binay said in a speech during the annual convention of the Philippine
Association of Law Schools (PALS) Inc. in Pasay City that the criticisms hurled
at the Aquino administration are to be expected.
"For sure, these actions of the government will not please all sectors.
Already there are those who charge that government acted with undue haste or
with little compassion for an ailing former leader," Binay said.
He added: "Government must not exist for the pleasure of one sector over the
others; nor must it simply play mediator to satisfy every sector's demand.
Government is there to do what needs to be done, with both law and the people's
interest in mind."
Meanwhile, Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro "Teddy" Casino said a
resolution will be filed Monday which calls for a congressional investigation on
the alleged participation of Mrs. Arroyo's lawyers and doctors in masquerading
the truth about her health condition.
"We are now set to file a House resolution on Monday, calling for an
investigation of GMA (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) lawyers and doctors. It is
deplorable that these so-called professionals tried to fool the Filipino people
on Gloria's health. There was no need after all for GMA to travel abroad for
treatment because she was recovering fine; it was just a ruse to escape arrest,"
he said.
Casino asked the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and the Supreme
Court as well as the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) to step in and "move
to discipline their dishonest members."
The so-called Makabayan bloc in the House – composed of Bayan Muna party-list
Rep. Neri Colmenares, Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, Gabriela Women's Party
Reps. Luz Ilagan and Emmi de Jesus, Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raymond Palatino and
ACT Teachers' Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio – believes there is reason to put
Arroyo in jail.
Mariano lashed at the Arroyo's camp for its "desperate attempt to deceive the
public and escape justice. "The government must not give leniency to Arroyo; she
deserves to go to jail," he said.
At the Senate, the Blue Ribbon Committee will no longer call the three
doctors of Arroyo when it resumes public hearing Tuesday on the controversial
outcome of the 2004 presidential elections.
Sen. Teofisto L. Guingona III, committee chairman, said the statements given
by the former President's doctors – Drs. Juliet Cervantes, Mario Ver and Roberto
Mirasol – before the Pasay city regional trial court (RTC) "is sufficient for
its (committee's) own purposes.''
Ver, orthopedic spine surgeon of Mrs. Arroyo, told the Pasay RTC court last
Friday that she is now fit to leave the hospital (St. Luke Medical Center in
Taguig city) as she is already recovering.
Ver, likewise, stated that Mrs. Arroyo is fit to be treated as an out-patient
and is already undergoing ''conservative treatment'' for her headache as she is
only suffering a minor back pain. (With reports from
Charissa M. Luci, JC Bello Ruiz, and Mario B. Casayuran)
FROM THE DAILY TRIBUNE
Arroyo camp links house arrest withdrawal to HLI row
11/28/2011
The camp of former President Gloria Arroyo insisted that vindictiveness was
clearly behind the change of heart of President Aquino in allowing a hospital or
house arrest on Arroyo and his obsession to put her in jail as a way to get back
at Arroyo because she was believed to be behind the decision of the Presidential
Agrarian Reform Council to revoke the stock option plan for farmers in Hacienda
Luisita that consequently became the basis for the Supreme Court's recent order
for land distribution on the Cojuangco-Aquino clan's estate.
Arroyo spokesman Raul Lambino said Aquino's motives in going after Arroyo
with more intensity and to persecute her are grounded on vindictiveness and
personal vendetta.
He claimed that fabricated charges being cooked up by the Aquino
administration that are expected to be filed against Arroyo were following the
government's propaganda lines and offshoots of the Hacienda Luisita ruling.
"The recent SC decision was the reason why the Aquino administration changed
its earlier offers of hospital or house arrest and is taking a hardline position
to detain Arroyo in a jail," Lambino said.
The Palace also maintained that the just compensation for Hacienda Luisita
Inc. (HLI) on the land to be distributed to farmers, as insisted by Aquino, is
under the law and the decision for that would be up to the Supreme Court (SC),
adding that the executive should not be blamed for any decision that the SC will
come up with.
Aquino's deputy spokesman Abigail Valte noted that just compensation is a
requisite under the law and the Aquino administration was not the one who
introduced it. She added that the SC will determine the just compensation to be
paid the HLI.
"The Court will determine that, it is not the executive's call because the
case is with the Supreme Court. The blame should not be on the executive," she
said.
Valte also insisted that President Aquino does not have a personal interest
on the issue since he had divested himself of his shareholdings in HLI.
"I think at this point, it is irrelevant and the fact is the President has
divested himself of the shareholdings in the family corporation and he has
always been forthright in saying that the decision is now the Supreme Court's to
make," she noted.
She added that they will abide by the decision of the Court, saying "whatever
that is going to happen will be entirely according to the decision and the
parties involved."
Valte added that the Palace will not intervene nor issue further comments on
the issue and "we will just let the events unfold."
"What is contained in the decision stands, I honestly have no idea on the
next moves of the private party, HLI. We are not their lawyers, neither are we
their spokespersons," she added.
She, nevertheless, said it would be the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)
which will implement the land valuation that the SC will arrived at. The
Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) was the one impleaded, DAR will be
working to implement whatever will be the decision," Valte said.
Aquino had insisted that in the light of the high court decision ordering the
distribution of land owned by HLI, the corporation should be justly compensated
as well.
Last Thursday, the SC voted unanimously, ordering the HLIe to be placed under
the government's agrarian reform program without qualification and that all
salaries, benefits, as well as the three percent of gross sales of the
agricultural lands, and the three percent share in the proceeds of the sale of
the 500-hectare converted land and the 80.51-hectare SCTex lot and the homelots
already received by the 10,502 farm-worker beneficiaries (FWBs) "shall be
respected with no obligation to refund or return them." Danessa O. Rivera
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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rights reserved
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