Manila: The lawyers of former president Gloria Arroyo, now a congresswoman, formally asked a regional trial court in suburban Pasay City to allow her to be under house arrest, but an official said government lawyers will oppose the plea.
A 17-page petition for the house arrest of Arroyo in her home in posh La Vista subdivision in suburban Quezon City, was sent to the Pasay City regional trial court yesterday, defence lawyer Lawrence Arroyo confirmed yesterday.
"President Arroyo is no ordinary citizen. The Lady of Justice may be blind in weighing the evidence but she cannot close her eyes to the fact the person before her is no ordinary person. Thus, while her term has ended, her stature as a former president has not diminished and her long public service cannot be disregarded," the petition said.
She was arrested for alleged election fraud in 2007 at St Luke's Medical Centre on November 18. Electoral fraud is a non-bailable offence and, if convicted, carries life imprisonment for the former president.
She would need hospital care after her three major operations for a pinched nerve in the neck (exacerbated by a rare bone malady), said her lawyer, adding her confinement at a government prison facility could endanger her life.
At the same time, the lawyer also asked the court to allow Arroyo to remain at St Luke's Medical Centre for another week while the petition for house arrest is being heard.
While giving a copy of the petition to the Comelec office, lawyer Arroyo said, "We are not asking that she be given preferential treatment but just to give her the respect due her because of the office that she held." In response, Commission on Elections chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr said that Arroyo should be detained at the headquarters of the Southern Police District, which arrested her on Pasay City Regional trial court order for alleged electoral sabotage.
"We would interpret a government house as a detention facility of the government," explained Brillantes, but added the court must decide on the thorny issue that has divided the country. Meanwhile, some lawmakers at the Lower House of Congress filed a House Resolution for Arroyo's detention in an ordinary jail. Everybody should be equal in the eyes of the law, explained Congressman Rafael Palatino of Children of Sweat.
