LAST week, a resolution from the House of Representatives was adopted aimed at urging the Sandiganbayan to place former President and now 3rd District of Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo under house arrest.
The said House resolution was approved by the justice committee headed by Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas who said that the measure was based on humanitarian grounds.
It can be recalled that the former Congresswoman Arroyo was charged with alleged plunder for the funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) and is currently detained at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City for quite some time now.
Since her detention, the health condition of Arroyo significantly deteriorated and only proves that her confinement is not doing her good.
In her photos, she can be seen with her frail body with her face showing some signs of stress due perhaps to her being under hospital arrest. There were many calls made earlier to place her instead to house arrest not only for humanitarian reasons but also for the principle of equal protection clause as provided for in the constitution.
When former President and now Manila City Mayor Joseph Estrada was convicted of the crime of plunder, he was eventually put to house arrest after a petition was made before the Sandiganbayan. Such case of President Estrada should also be made to apply to Congresswoman Arroyo.
Mayor Estrada when ordered to be place under house arrest, was given conditions, in which he abided them faithfully while under detention in a rest house in Tanay, Rizal.
After serving at least six years of his detention, he was pardoned by the now detained via hospital arrest Congresswoman Arroyo.
If Estrada was afforded house arrest, so should Congresswoman Arroyo in view of the said constitutional provision and for human consideration. The scenario would also mean doing away with politics. Should Congresswoman Arroyo be granted such, it would be another step into healing the political gap between her and the incumbent President.
The constituents of Congresswoman Arroyo in the second district of the province, aside from being somewhat deprived of the representation of a congresswoman, definitely miss her presence. She has been at the VMMC for quite some time now.
It can be recalled that Congresswoman Arroyo loves to mingle not only to her constituents but also to the kapampangans who supports her up to this time. She was a well-loved leader not only when she was still the President but also until she was incarcerated at the VMMC.
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