Arroyo’s freedom a ‘great blow’ to justice system — Solon

Arroyo

A party-list representative described on Tuesday the granting of the petition of former President and incumbent Pampanga representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to dismiss her plunder case at the Sandiganbayan as a “great blow” to the country’s justice system.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Sarah Elago said that releasing Arroyo paints a bad picture of the Philippines’ justice system as an institution which allows former presidents involved in plunder cases to remain unpunished.

“Mrs. Arroyo’s eventual release casts a dark shadow over the Philippine justice system – a system that lets political prisoners to remain incarcerated for trumped-up charges for decades, while letting Philippine presidents go scot-free despite being caught red-handed in raiding the public coffers,” Elago said in a statement.

The neophyte lawmaker blamed the appointment of eight justices in the high court during Arroyo’s term and the government’s allegedly “lackadaisical” handling of the former President’s case as factors which sped up her acquittal.

“By freeing Arroyo from detention, the nation’s justice system is clearly sending this message: if you’re powerful enough, and you have friends and allies all over government, it’s just OK to commit plunder, or any other crime,” Elago said.

The eight justices who ruled in favor of the President were: Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., Justice Teresita de Castro, Justice Arturo Brion, Justice Diosdado Peralta, Justice Lucas Bersamin, Justice Mariano del Castillo, Justice Jose Perez and Justice Jose Mendoza.