Commission on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes said former President Gloria Arroyo, seen here with her husband Mike Arroyo (left), and the other elected officials failed to comply with the law by either 1) failing to submit a SOCE 2) failing to sign the submitted SOCE or 3) submitting a signed SOCE that was not in the proper form.
MANILA (Mabuhay) − Former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Thursday filed before the Sandiganbayan’s First Division a motion for reconsideration of bail.
Arroyo, who has been denied bail several times by the anti-graft court due to strong evidence against her in a P366-M plunder case involving funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, reiterated that she was not a flight risk, an issue she first raised in her supplemental motion for bail filed last February.
However, that motion was denied, with the court adding that Arroyo’s “[invocation] of additional grounds on a piecemeal basis does not sit well with the Court.”
In the motion filed by Arroyo’s camp Thursday, the former leader apologized to the court, noting that her being a non-flight risk was only raised in the supplemental motion since she changed legal counsel recently.
Meanwhile, in her new motion for reconsideration, Arroyo and her counsel reiterated that the former President’s public status will prevent her from leaving the country.
“The possibility of President Arroyo’s escape, bearing in mind her official and social standing and her other personal circumstances, is remote, if not nil. If [she] is not a flight risk, there is no reason to detail her pending trial,” the motion said.
Mrs. Arroyo is currently under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City for allegedly conspiring to fraudulently divert P366 million in confidential PCSO intelligence funds “for personal gain” from 2008 to 2010.
The plunder complaint was filed with the Ombudsman by Jaime Regalario, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel and former Army general Danilo Lim on July 26, 2011. (MNS)