FVR: Gloria Arroyo 'lowered the prestige' of the presidency

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo undermined the prestige of the presidency when she sought to run as the second district representative of Pampanga after her term, former President Fidel Ramos said on Wednesday.

Ramos said Arroyo should have taken a break first before running for Congress after giving the reigns of the presidency to former President Benigno Aquino III. 

"Kailangan mayroong interignum sana kasi otherwise, pardon me for saying these remarks, lowering the prestige of the high office that you are occupying," he said at a media forum.

"Why should the incumbent president run for lower office without resigning the position as president? She is also the commander-in-chief. She is also the chief executive in charge of appointment. She is also in control of the budget. Why? Of course, that went unanswered," Ramos added.

Ramos said Arroyo ran for Congress to receive immunity from criminal charges.

"I found out from some veteran friends in Pampanga that she wants to have additional immunity from law after finishing her term as president in 2010. But the immunity of a congressman or a senator is different from a president... he is not absolved as a congressman from heinous crimes under the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines. 'Yan ang binatikos ko noong araw," he said.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled to junk the plunder case of Arroyo before the Sandiganbayan about the alleged misuse of intelligence funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. 

"Mabuti pa at nabawasan yung mga former Philippine presidents na nakakulong," Ramos joked.

Turning serious, Ramos said a free Arroyo would be a welcome addition during national security council meetings where former presidents are ex-officio members.

Last meeting

He recalled his last meeting with Arroyo in 2013 during a fund-raising golf tournament at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, where she was detained.

"Last time I talked to her was the height of typhoon Yolanda in Leyte [while] playing golf in the Veterans because it was scheduled for the Reproductive Health Program which I have been supporting," he said.

Ramos said he caught with Arroyo for a brief talk while she was doing her morning walk in the hospital grounds, a time she should have spent under house arrest.

"She was doing her morning walk. Nagbatian kami at nagchika-chika pero ganoon lang. Considering her very pitiful situation with her neck up in the air by an artificial plastic brace... She could have spent that period under house arrest," Ramos said. —JST, GMA News