House arrest for Gloria Arroyo a security nightmare, prosecution says

Government prosecutors again aired their objection to the bid of former President and incumbent Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to be placed under house arrest.

In its opposition submitted to the Sandiganbayan First Division on Friday last week but only made available to the media on Monday, the prosecution panel said it would be hard for the authorities to secure Arroyo either at her residence in Lubao, Pampanga or at the La Vista Subdivision in Quezon City.

The prosecution said both pieces of property were not owned by the former president but by private corporations.

“How can the said properties be under the full control and supervision of the authorities implementing security of the accused-movant, in the first place, these properties are privately-owned by a corporation who has not given consent thereto,” the prosecution said.

In a motion submitted to the First Division in early April, Arroyo asked the anti-graft court to allow her to be placed under house arrest either at her residence in La Vista Subdivision in Quezon City or at her ancestral house in Barangay San Nicolas in Lubao, Pampanga citing her “steadily deteriorating” health condition due to her spine and esophageal diseases.

Arroyo is facing a plunder case before the First Division in connection with the alleged misuse of P366-million worth of funds from state lottery firm, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) during her term as President.

She has been under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City since 2012.

Based on the supplemental documents that Arroyo’s camp submitted to the court last month, the La Vista Subdivision property is registered under La Vista Investments and Holdings, Inc. while the Lubao property is registered under Eva Development Corporation.

Arroyo said both companies under which her houses are named, were “family-owned corporations”.

The prosecution, however, pointed out that Arroyo failed to show any proof of her rights or authority over either of the property for the court to allow its use as a place of her detention.

“The properties are not registered under the name of the accused-movant but under a corporation which is not even shown nor disclosed before this Honorable Court as to what are the rights of the accused-movant over such properties. Neither has the accused-movant shown any authority from the owners of the property that consent has been given to her for usage of the same,” the prosecution said.

The prosecution also found loopholes on Arroyo’s admission that there were 15 occupants of the La Vista property, including First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo, household staff and Presidential Security Group (PSG) personnel while there were four household helpers living in separate quarters within the premises of the Lubao property.

“With regard to the occupants of the houses, it is the opinion of the prosecution that there are so many of them that security becomes a worse nightmare for the PNP-Security Group tasked to handle the same,” the prosecution said.

Finally, the prosecution reiterated its earlier position that the Sandiganbayan has no legal authority to placed an accused of a criminal offense such as plunder under house arrest.

“The remedy of a ‘house arrest’ that the movant seek from this Court in the guise of modification of custodial arrangement is without legal basis…This Court does not have the legislative authority to establish [an accused] under house arrest, as distinguished from those who are detained in jails while facing charges in Court,” the prosecution said. —NB, GMA News