(Updated 11:35 a.m.) The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found the continued detention of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo arbitrary and illegal under international law. In its opinion released on October 2, the five-member UN body urged the Philippine government to reconsider Arroyo’s bail plea “in accordance with the relevant international human rights standards and to accord Ms. Arroyo with an enforceable right to compensation… for the deprivation of liberty which already occurred.” The gist of the UN working group’s opinion was relayed to Arroyo’s counsel in the Philippines Atty. Lorenzo Gadon via e-mail sent Oct. 7 by international human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney. The latter filed a human rights violation case against the Philippine government on the former President’s behalf before the UN.

Arroyo has been under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City since 2012 for a plunder case in connection with the alleged misuse of P366-million intelligence funds of the state lottery firm during her presidency. She is undergoing treatment for a spine disease.

In her e-mail, Clooney said the UN body found Arroyo’s detention illegal under international law because the Sandiganbayan “failed to take into account her individual circumstances” when it repeatedly denied her request for bail and fell short in considering alternatives to pre-trial detention.

Furthermore, she said the UN working group also found the “undue delays” in the legal proceedings surrounding Arroyo’s case an indication that her detention was arbitrary.- See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/539941/news/nation/un-body-finds-gloria-arroyo-s-detention-illegal-against-int-l-law#sthash.uQiVCcOO.dpuf

Arroyo camp to file petition

In light of the UN Working Group's recommendation, lawyers of Arroyo will make another appeal to the Sandiganbayan to grant her bail following the ruling of the UN Working Group. "We might file another petition for bail at the Sandiganbayan citing the recommendation of UN," Gadon said.

 

The Arroyo camp said it welcomes the expert opinion of UN and urges the government to comply. "The Philippine government will lose face if we will not abide by the internationally accepted principles of law," Gadon said.

 

The legal team maintains that the former President deserves her temporary liberty while her plunder case involving an alleged anomaly in Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office funds is ongoing. "She should have been granted bail because the evidence is weak," Gadon said.

‘Politically motivated’

 

In siding with Arroyo, Clooney said the UN working group recognized that the charges against the former President are politically motivated since she was detained “as a result of the exercise of her right to take part in government and the conduct of public affairs” and “because of her political…opinion.”

 

She said the UN body highlighted in particular the Philippine government’s “defiance of court rulings removing travel bans” against Arroyo as proof that it is “targeting” the former President and interfering with judicial decisions in her

case.

The UN body based its finding on the government’s resistance to lift the travel restrictions on Arroyo on Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s move to  stop her from boarding a Singapore-bound plane in November 2011 , in violation of a Supreme Court ruling allowing her to seek medical treatment abroad.

Aside from reconsideration of Arroyo’s bail plea and providing compensation, the UN working group asked the Philippines government to “ensure fair trials which respects all the guarantees enshrined in international human rights law” should it proceed with trying the former President’s case.

 

“In particular, the trials must take place without undue delay,” the UN body said. 

 

Before deciding on Arroyo’s case, Clooney said the UN body received “extensive legal submissions” from both the former President’s side and that of the Philippine government.

 

After extensive deliberation, she said the UN working group backed the arguments presented by Arroyo’s counsel “in full” and held that the Philippine government “failed to refute any of her allegations.”

 

Clooney handles the case filed by Arroyo at the UN Human Rights Commission.

Arroyo’s health

 

Meanwhile, Arroyo's medical condition continues to deteriorate according to her lawyers.

"She continues to suffer as her condition worsens while in detention," Gadon said. In fact, Arroyo can hardly lift a cup of coffee. "Her left hand feels numb as if it's paralyzed because she can hardly move it at times."

 

Arroyo faces plunder charges at the Sandiganbayan which is a non-bailable offense.

Palace reaction

Malacañang on Thursday however said that while it "takes note" of the opinion of the UN body on the continued detention of Arroyo, it cannot interfere in an ongoing judicial proceeding.

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said the Philippines is a signatory to international conventions on human rights, and as such, it ensures that all individuals are accorded due process under existing laws.

 

He said Arroyo has been accorded such due process and availed of the necessary legal remedies under Philippine laws.

 

"It must be noted that there is an ongoing judicial process in the PH courts, which has sole jurisdiction to decide on such matters. The PH government or any international body, for that matter, cannot interfere nor influence the course of an independent judicial proceeding," said Coloma. —With a report from Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez/KG, GMA News

Arroyo, 68, was arrested in November 2011 following the filing of criminal charges against her for electoral fraud. She was released on bail in July 2012, but was rearrested while in the Veterans Memorial Medical Center on charges of misusing state lottery funds in October of that year.

Summary of claim

Arroyo has spent over three years in detention as a result of unproved and politically motivated criminal charges and without any conviction having been entered against her, according to the summary of the former president’s claim to the UN.

During this period, the Philippine government has failed to protect, respect and fulfill her rights under international human rights law, including the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, the brief said.

Arroyo’s legal counsels have stressed that Philippine law precludes the courts from considering a range of factors that must, under international human rights law, be taken into account in deciding whether pre-trial detention is necessary. In denying bail to Arroyo on this automatic basis, the Philippine court also failed to give any consideration to the possibility of applying less intrusive alternatives to pre-trial detention, even though this is required under international human rights law.

Her lawyers said the Philippine court failed to rule on Arroyo’s bail for over a year, even though international human rights law requires courts to do so within hours or days of arrest.

Throughout her detention, Arroyo has also been barred from accessing any means of communication, including Internet access, a mobile phone or a laptop computer, which “preclude her from performing her role as a democratically elected representative” of a district of Pampanga.

“It is hoped that the UN can intervene on an urgent basis, given the long period she has already spent in detention and in light of her deteriorating health and need for specialist medical treatment abroad,” the summary of claim concluded.

The United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) was widely reported to have opined that “the detention of former President [Gloria Macapagal] Arroyo (GMA) was arbitrary and illegal under international law … with an enforceable right to compensation.”

Bail denied. Commenting on this opinion obtained by international celebrity lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said that GMA “has been accorded due process and has availed herself of various legal remedies … in Philippine courts, which have sole jurisdiction to decide on such matters.”

And may I add that the controversy is about a mere “opinion” of a UN “working group” which does not have the coercive power of a treaty, or a customary international law, or a decision made after trial and hearing of an international tribunal like the International Court of Justice, or the International Criminal Court, or of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, where the Philippine claim in the West Philippine Sea is being heard.

GMA faces two major suits: (1) electoral sabotage, a capital offense, in the regional trial court (RTC) of Pasay for her alleged role in the manipulation of the 2007 election results in Maguindanao, and (2) plunder, also a capital offense, in the Sandiganbayan (SBN) for her alleged participation in the illegal use of P366 million in funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

She was granted bail by the RTC (affirmed by the Court of Appeals) because the prosecution failed to prove that “the evidence of guilt is strong.” However, the SBN denied her plea for bail in the PCSO case.

After the prosecution finished presenting its evidence in the PCSO case, the defense filed a “demurrer” on the ground that the evidence presented had failed to prove GMA’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Demurrer also denied. However, a Special SBN Division of five, voting 3-2, denied the demurrer and ruled that the prosecution has proven her guilt beyond reasonable doubt, and asked her to present countervailing evidence. Otherwise, she would be at risk of conviction.

Significantly, and this was noted in the WGAD opinion, the demurrer of her four coaccused (former PCSO chair Manuel Morato, former PCSO board members Raymundo Roquero and Jose Taruc, and former Commission on Audit chair Reynaldo Villar) was granted, resulting in their acquittal.

The charge against another coaccused, former PCSO chair Sergio Valencia, was downgraded to malversation. Since this is not a capital offense, he was allowed to post a bail bond of P500,000. Only GMA and another coaccused, former PCSO executive Benigno Aguas, were neither acquitted nor granted bail.

Failing in her bid for demurrer and bail, GMA filed a motion in the SBN to change her confinement from the Veterans Memorial Medical Center to her home at 14 Badjao Street, La Vista, Quezon City. In view of the recent WGAD opinion, she is renewing her plea for bail.

Equal protection. I believe, however, that more compelling than the WGAD opinion—which, as Coloma correctly pointed out, is not binding on our judiciary—is the recent Supreme Court decision (Ponce Enrile vs Sandiganbayan, Aug. 18, 2015) granting bail to Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile.

Bail was allowed, not because the prosecution (the Office of the Ombudsman) failed to present “strong” evidence of guilt, but because of (1) Enrile’s “fragile” health (uncontrolled hypertension, arrhythmia, coronary calcifications, and exacerbations of asthma-COPD overlap syndrome) and (2) advanced age (“already over 70 years old at the time of the alleged commission of the offense”).

Veering away from “strong evidence of guilt” as the only constitutionally-mandated ground to grant bail in capital offenses, the Court said that the SBN “arbitrarily ignored the objective of bail to ensure the appearance of the accused during the trial…”

True, this 8-4 decision was heavily criticized by the dissenting opinion of Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen. However, whether we agree with it or not, once affirmed to be final (through a denial of the pending motion for reconsideration), it becomes a binding precedent.

Citing the equal protection of the law, GMA’s lawyers could obtain bail if they can show that, like Enrile, she is not a flight risk because of her fragile health and advanced age.

Ineluctably, GMA could secure her longed-for temporary liberty because of that Supreme Court decision, not of the much-publicized WGAD opinion.

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Malacañan has noted the opinion of a United Nations (UN) body that the

detention of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo violates international human rights laws. But it insists that

only a Philippine court can "decide on such matters."

"The Philippines takes note of the opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) and will

prepare an appropriate response, according to WGAD's rules,"  Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio

Coloma Jr. said on Thursday (October 9).

"The Philippines, as a signatory to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, abides by its international obligations."

With an ongoing process in Philippine courts, Coloma explained that neither the government nor any international

body could interfere with the proceedings.

Philippine courts "have sole jurisdiction to decide on such matters," he said.

Arroyo is facing plunder charges over the alleged misuse during her term as president of Philippine Charity

Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) funds amounting to P366 million.

'Violation of international law'

Larry Gadon, one of Arroyo's lawyers, revealed that the UN's WGAD deemed the continued detention of the former

president as arbitrary, thus violating international human rights laws.

The UN body, composed of five independent human rights experts, said Arroyo should be given compensation for

having been deprived of her liberty.

A complaint was filed before the UN by international lawyer Amal Alammudin-Clooney last February on behalf of

Arroyo.

Although aware that the opinion is not legally binding, Arroyo's camp is urging the Philippine government to comply

as a member state of the UN.

"Lalabas na kahiya-hiya tayo sapagkat hindi tayo nagko-conform doon sa international standards of human rights,"

Gadon said.

Gadon added that the e-mail sent by Clooney on Wednesday (October 7) mentioned that the UN body recognized the

charges against the former president as politically motivated and that the Sandiganbayan First Division failed to

consider Arroyo's "individual circumstances," as she is not a flight risk due to her poor health.

Arroyo suffers from cervical spondylosis, a chronic ailment that affects the joints in the neck.

Arroyo's repeated petitions for the anti-graft court to grant her temporary freedom have been all denied.

Last April, she filed a bail petition before the Supreme Court, but it remains unresolved.

She is under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC).

Gadon told the media on Thursday that the president was happy on reading the WGAD'decision as "her rights were

given recognition."

Rulings 'based on law'

Reacting to the UN body's opinion, Justice Efren de la Cruz of the Sandiganbayan First Division said that the court's

"mandate is not to be influenced by any public opinion or whatever."

"We should base our resolution on the facts and evidence of the case. That's all," he added.