MANILA: Tight security will be implemented both at the Sandiganbayan and the Veterans Memorial Medical Centre (VMMC) for the scheduled arraignment of former president now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on plunder charges today.
Bomb experts from the Explosives and Ordnance Divisions of the National Capital Region Police Office and the Quezon City Police District will be deployed inside and outside the anti-graft court.
The Police Security Protection Group will provide close-in security for the former president.
Police officers will secure the vicinity of the Sandiganbayan and the route that the former president will be taking for her scheduled court appearance.
Police said they would be on guard against groups, both supportive and critical of Arroyo, that might take advantage of the situation. Policemen will also patrol major intersections along the route that Arroyo’s convoy will be taking in going to the court. Lawmen are also ready to control the crowd in case protesters force their way toward the Sandiganbayan and the VMMC. The hospital’s presidential suite will be under heavy guard while Arroyo is out of the hospital.
Sandiganbayan spokesman Renato Bocar earlier said Arroyo’s arraignment would proceed as scheduled unless the Supreme Court (SC) issues a temporary restraining order (TRO).
Earlier, the former president filed a petition for certiorari before the SC questioning her indictment before the First Division of the anti-graft court.
She wanted the SC to issue a TRO to stop the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan from proceeding with the plunder case.
VMMC director Nona Legaspi has also said the former president would be brought to the anti-graft court regardless of her medical condition.
Taking the cue from her boss, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte yesterday said President Aquino’s prediction that former chief justice Renato Corona may be reunited with his patron, former Arroyo, in jail is very plausible.
Valte told state-run radio dzRB that such a scenario is legally possible under the current circumstances, particularly because Arroyo is now under hospital arrest on plunder charges – a non-bailable offense – while the ousted chief magistrate is facing charges of tax evasion.
Under Philippine laws, an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty, a power that has been vested in the judiciary – and not the executive department – and is guaranteed by the Constitution that Aquino himself had sworn to uphold. The President had earlier declared that he thinks Commission on Elections commissioner Grace Padaca is “not guilty” of the graft charges she is facing.
The justice system provides that Padaca and Arroyo should be presumed innocent, both being an “accused” in a case.
Unlike Arroyo’s plunder and electoral sabotage cases, Padaca’s trial before the Sandiganbayan has not yet started. The warrant for her arrest was not served for four months and her P70,000 ($1,600) bail was shouldered by Aquino himself.
The mandate of finding an accused guilty rests on the judiciary.
Valte dismissed observations by Siquijor Representative Orlando Fua that Aquino seemed to be cruel to his political enemies and that his government was bent on pursuing vindictiveness, to the point of sacrificing the rule of law.
“There’s no cruelty there. Obviously, the rights of these people are being afforded to them. They are being made to answer the charges against them in the proper forum. So how can that be cruelty?” she asked.
“How can observing due process be tagged as cruelty? Obviously that’s an exaggeration,” Valte said, defending the prejudgment Aquino made on the cases against Arroyo even if all of these are still undergoing trial, and no final judgment has yet been made.
The Philippine star
