SCROLL down: Technically, she is still under arrest but out on bail she posted when she was charged before Sandiganbayan. The anti-graft court still allows her bail, with news reports not saying whether the amount has been raised because of the conviction...Why she cannot be pardoned yet. And yes, like Erap Estrada before her, she can be pardoned by Duterte or whoever is the next president.
First, what people talk about
* Senator Chiz Escudero chiding PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde for talking about Imelda Marcos's age. Albayalde was gingerly touching the subject: Let's not call her old, the top cop said, she might get angry. That was pointing out her age with more glare than directly saying she was old.
* Capitol talking about the lowest bidder in the planned 20-storey building within the Capitol compound, without dealing with the elephant in the room: Can it legally do the project amid the objection of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines?
Procedure explained: the 'arrest' bit
Complaints followed the November 9 announcement that Representative Imelda Romualdez-Marcos was convicted of seven counts of corruption: why not arrest her now, her being elderly is no excuse, she should not be given special treatment, compared to Trillanes, her crime is far more heinous, she has managed to be free for so long, and so on.
Law experts who can get in a word edgewise into the din of reactions from all over will tell us:
* She is still under arrest but is out on bail, which she must have filed when the 10 charges were filed by the ombudsman with the Sandiganbayan.
* When the anti-graft court convicted her on seven of the 10 complaints, the ruling mentioned about her bail, which she still could have; either she will still be out under the same bail or it will be increased;
* What gripers must mean is arrest for the purpose of making her serve the sentence. The conviction is not yet final. She can file, which she did, a motion for reconsideration (MR). If it will be rejected, as most MRs are, she can file a petition for review with the Supreme Court. That will take a lot more time, from promulgation to becoming final and executory. And she might have the Sandiganbayan ruling reversed by the high court as she had done before on another criminal case.
She can't be pardoned yet
Until the conviction of Mrs. Marcos becomes final, she cannot be pardoned. But it is something that some people worry about and it can be done, so it is not premature to talk about it.
Imelda can be pardoned by Duterte, the same way that Gloria Arroyo pardoned Erap Estrada. She may get off her jail sentence and if she does not, she may get a pardon.
With all her wealth and the family's political power, she can get away with plunder.
The amount of loot: US$200 million
What people may ask about is why she was not charged with plunder when the amount of money she was found by Sandiganbayan to have stashed away was US$200 million, whose equivalent in today's rate of exchange is P10.64 billion. Give or take inflation to get the value at the time of the commission of the offense, that is still a lot of money. Maybe they counted per charge, not the total bunch? That has not been explained.
Erap Estrada was pardoned by Gloria Arroyo. Duterte or whoever is the president may pardon Imelda too. Both Erap and Gloria were detained for plunder.
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