UN PANEL FINDS DETENTION OF PHILIPPINE EX-PRESIDENT ARROYO ILLEGAL

MANILA, Philippine - A UN body has said the continued detention of former Philippine President Gloria Arroyo is illegal under international law.

In an opinion issued on October 2, regarding the continued stay in custody of the former leader, the five-member UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said her detention had been carried out arbitrarily and that it has no basis under international law.

International human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who is representing Arroyo in the case before the Geneva-based body, has said the Philippine anti-graft court, Sandiganbayan, “failed to take into account the former leader’s individual circumstances, when it continued to detain her and had consistently rejected her attempts to post bail.

• The former president suffers from a number of ailments, including degenerative spine disease, which have compelled her to wear a neck brace and be moved around in a wheelchair.
• She remains in detention at the Veterans Memorial Medical Centre in suburban Quezon City, where she has been staying since 2012.
• Arroyo’s Filipino lawyer, Lawrence Gadon, said they welcomed the UN working group’s decision.
• He said they might file another request for bail before the Sandiganbayan that will now use the UN working group’s opinion as leverage.

Meanwhile, a government spokesperson said while it recognises the UN body’s opinion on Arroyo’s case, it is still up to the country’s courts to decide the outcome.
“It should be noted that there is an on going judicial process in the Philippine courts, which has jurisdiction on such matter,” Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr said.

• He stressed that the Philippine courts observe judicial independence.
• “The government or any international body, for that matter, cannot interfere nor influence the course of an independent judicial proceeding,” Coloma said.
• Lawyer Gadon said he feared the longer Arroyo stays in detention, the more prolonged her suffering would be.
• Arroyo, who was president from February 2001 to June 2010 has faced a number of charges since her term ended.
• Most of the court cases were scrapped for lack of evidence and the only one that remains is a plunder case filed against her in connection with the alleged misuse of a P366 million intelligence fund of the state lottery body, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

Before her detention in 2012, Arroyo had been planning to seek treatment overseas for her ailments.

Despite being in detention, Arroyo was elected representative of her congressional district in Pampanga in 2010 and in 2013. Reports said she is planning to run for a third and final term in the May 2016 elections.

Source: GulfNews