Placing Gloria Arroyo under house arrest will pose security risk – PNP

The Philippine National Police has admitted that placing former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo under house arrest will pose “immense security risk” not only to the 68-year-old lawmaker but also to the people near her residence.

 

“The PNP submits that if the Modified Custodial Arrangement will be implemented, this will pose immense security risk that will demand larger complement of police personnel, and which will further entail additional expenses on the part of the government,” PNP chief Director General Ricardo Marquez said in a letter submitted to the Sandiganbayan First Division.

The PNP submitted its letter on October 1, but copies of it were only released on Monday.

 

The First Division earlier ordered the PNP to comment on the motion of Mrs. Arroyo to be placed under house arrest either in her residence in La Vista village in Quezon City or in her ancestral house in Barangay San Nicolas in Lubao, Pampanga citing her “steadily deteriorating” health condition.

 

The former Philippine leader is facing plunder charges before the First Division in connection with the alleged misuse of P366-million worth of intelligence fund of the 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 following major operations in her spine.

More police personnel needed 

 

In his letter, Marquez said that as the place where Mrs. Arroyo wishes to be detained is much farther from the Sandiganbayan that the VMMC, more PNP personnel would be needed to ensure her safety everytime she needs to attend court proceedings.

 

“Additional police officers will be deployed along the longer stretch of the road as advance security on some high risk areas…Thus, police units having jurisdiction over the area where the convoy passes will have to commit so much number of personnel as augmentation force,” Marquez said.

 

“The PNP does not disregard impending protest actions not only in the place of detention but along the road traversed by the convoy,” Marquez added.

 

Marquez said that to augment the security for Mrs. Arroyo, some personnel performing other equally important functions would have to be redirected to perform security works.

 

“Other personnel tasked to perform investigation, patrol, and traffic duties will be made to perform security and protection works. The human resources will be stretched to meet the number of personnel to secure and protect Hon. Macapagal-Arroyo,” Marquez said.

 

Marquez further pointed out that if the court would grant Mrs. Arroyo’s plea, more police personnel would also have to be deployed not only in her residence but also in the entire village where her house is situated.

 

“The vastness of the [La Vista] Subdivision requires substantial number of police personnel to protect the safety of Hon. Macapagal-Arroyo not to mention the complement of police personnel to be assigned in her residence,” Marquez said.

 

Meanwhile, Marquez said that should the court transfers Mrs. Arroyo’s place of detention in her house in Lubao, “more complicated and costly security arrangement” would be needed, as the property is farther from the Sandiganbayan and larger than the La Vista property.

 

“It is not enough that a perimeter security will be set up inside the Lubao residence but the surrounding borders and edges of the entire property will also be secured,” Marquez said.

 

Marquez, however, assured the First Division that he will abide to whatever will be the decision of the court regarding Mrs. Arroyo’s motion.

 

“Notwithstanding, CPNP (chief PNP) respectfully submits that he will adhere to the custodial arrangement that the Honorable Court may approve for Hon. Macapagal-Arroyo,” Marquez said.

 

The former Philippine leaer's motion for house arrest has been pending before the First Division since April of this year.

 

Just last week, a five-man United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention says Mrs. Arroyo continued detention is arbitrary and illegal under international laws.

 

The UN body asked the Philippine government to reconsider Rep. Arroyo’s petition to post bail, which the First Division had earlier denied. — RSJ, GMA News