The Philippine Online Chronicles

Militant groups said the Aquino government must not give preferential or special treatment to former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who is now facing charges of electoral sabotage.

In a press conference, progressive partylist Bayan Muna said it is not for Malacanang to decide if Pampanga Rep. Arroyo will be put under hospital arrest. “Hospital or house arrest should be determined not by the administration but by the court, said Bayan Muna representatives Neri Colmenares and Teodoro Casino.

Malacanang earlier said it will not object to the former president’s hospital arrest should her lawyers ask seek a court ruling for it. Presidential Spokesperson Ricky Carandang added that President Benigno Aquino III instructed authorities to treat Arroyo with respect.

But Casino said “CGMA along with her co-accused should undergo the same procedure as anyone would, even Erap (former president Joseph Estrada) went through it. Arroyo should be finger printed and her mug shot should be taken by the police. If the doctors say that she can be taken to the jail then she should also be taken.”

Groups under Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) also shared the same position, saying former president Arroyo must not be treated differently because of her so-called medical condition.

They said “the Aquino government’s special treatment of a criminal, human rights violator, and plunderer that is Arroyo is totally unacceptable.”

“Arroyo should feel what it feels to be in jail,” said Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas chair Danilo Ramos who cited that “during Arroyo’s regime, the late peasant leader Rogelio Galit was bed-ridden when he was arrested by authorities in his house in Cavite and was forcibly transported to Mindoro.”

Human rights advocates also cited the case of Morong 43 health workers where former political detainees Maria Mercedes Castro and Judielyn Castro, were forced to give birth in detention last year after the courts denied their humanitarian appeal to be transferred to a hospital.

Farmers group KMP also urged the Office of the Ombudsman to fast track Arroyo’s indictment and file a plunder case before the Sandiganbayan on the P728-million fertilizer fund scam. The fertilizer fund scam case would strengthen the charges and pin down Arroyo,” said KMP’s Ramos.

For its part, labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno said “justice is not yet served until Arroyo is punished. Aside from election fraud, other cases involving Arroyo include corruption and plunder of the country’s wealth, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and human and trade unions rights. Arroyo also connived with the Cojuangco-Aquino family during the massacre in Hacienda Luisita.”

Arroyo is currently confined at the St. Lukes Medical Center in Taguig. Human rights group Karapatan today led a protest of former political detainees outside the hospital to oppose any special treatment for the former president. “If she is medically fit to travel to Singapore, then she is well enough to go to the nearest police station to follow the procedures,” said Jigs Clamor of Karapatan.

Last Thursday, the Pasay City Trial Court issued a warrant of arrest against Arroyo over charges of electoral sabotage in relation to the alleged rigging of the 2004 election. Also charged were former COMELEC Commissioner Benjamin Abalos, former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and Lintang Bedol.