She walked free from eight months in detention on Wednesday after a court granted her bail on the ground that the electoral sabotage case against her was weak. But her freedom may be short-lived.“Thank God,” former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 65, said before exchanging embraces with a small group of relatives and friends gathered in her room at Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City.
That’s vintage Gloria Arroyo, one who kept strong when others showed weakness, her only daughter Lourdes “Luli” Arroyo-Bernas said.
Several senators, however, said Arroyo could be detained anew sooner than expected for the nonbailable charge of plunder that was filed earlier this month in connection with the misuse of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) intelligence funds.
“Once the Sandiganbayan issues another warrant of arrest in relation to the plunder case, she will go back to prison,” said Senator Francis Escudero, chairman of the justice committee.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada joked that Arroyo should have left behind her clothes at VMMC.
“She might be back very soon,” said Estrada, who himself once faced a plunder case but was later acquitted in connection with the jueteng funds pocketed by his father, former President Joseph Estrada.
Senator Teofisto Guingona III, chairman of the blue ribbon committee, said the evidence gathered by his panel during its hearings on the P366 million in PCSO funds that went missing during Arroyo’s incumbency “is very strong.”
No comments:
Post a Comment