Former President Arroyo's arrest could trigger political crisis in Philippines

The political drama that has unfolded in the Philippines is the first big test of the 17-month old presidency of Benigno S. Aquino III and could either strengthen his government or further weaken it depending on the developments in the next few days. Sunday is the second day that former President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo, now 64, is under hospital arrest at the high-end Saint Luke's Medical Center in Taguig City in suburban Manila. She had already undergone three spinal bone surgeries and would have traveled abroad to seek further medical treatment. The drama started on Tuesday when the country's Supreme Court,a collegial body, voted 8-5 in granting the petition for temporary restraining order (TRO) making the watch-list order earlier issued by the Department of Justice against Mrs. Arroyo no longer binding and that she could now travel abroad. Since the TRO issued was final and executory, Mrs. Arroyo and her husband, the lawyer Jose Miguel Arroyo, went to the airport on Tuesday night to fly to Singapore en route to Germany and finally to Spain where the family said they already have contacted a bone specialist to look into Mrs. Arroyo's ailment. Mrs. Arroyo, however, was barred from taking her flight to Singapore and was brought back to the hospital after Justice Secretary Leila de Lima ordered the immigration office, which is under her department, to stick to the watch-list order banning the departure of the Arroyos despite the TRO. Some legal luminaries, including Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, have scored De Lima for her open defiance of the Supreme Court order. Over the weekend in Davao City, Enrile, a brilliant lawyer, said the manner by which the Aquino government handled the Arroyo case smacked of a mockery against the country's judicial system, adding that the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of legal cases. According to Enrile, the executive branch should not weaken the judiciary with its defiance of the Supreme Court's order. "Once you weaken the Supreme Court, everybody suffers.. We are inviting a revolt and a civil war here," Enrile warned. Enrile, along with former President Fidel Ramos, led the military revolt against the Marcos dictatorship in l986 that catapulted Mrs. Corazon Aquino, mother of the incumbent president, to power. But De Lima, who said that she had the imprimatur from President Aquino, insisted that her order banning the travel of Mrs. Arroyo was not illegal since the government was still waiting for the Supreme Court to decide on a motion for reconsideration of its ruling on the TRO. President Aquino had to move by a few hours before his departure on Thursday for Bali, Indonesia for the l9th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to attend to the Arroyo issue. He missed the opening ceremony but was present during the retreat and the concluding session. The country's highest court will still have to settle on Monday once for all the legality of the TRO and the contempt charges filed against Secretary De Lima for defying the Supreme Court's order. However, the TRO is now moot and academic after Judge Jesus Mupas of the Regional Trial Court in Pasay City issued on Friday an arrest order against Mrs. Arroyo for the charge of electoral sabotage filed against her and two others in connection with the mid-term elections in 2007 in Maguindanao in Central Mindanao. Lawyers of Mrs. Arroyo said that the filing of the election case against her was railroaded and was "done with undue haste" because within a few hours after the filing of the case, the judge immediately issued an arrest warrant against Arroyo. They said its real motive was to prevent the departure of Mrs. Arroyo for abroad. But De Lima countered that the legal action against the former president was the "real triumph for justice and accountability". Since the crime of electoral sabotage is a non-bailable offense, Mrs. Arroyo will have to be incarcerated during the course of the trial. But President Aquino, even while in Bali, has announced that the government would not object to a hospital arrest for Mrs. Arroyo while she is still sick. According to Vice President Jejomar Binay who was among the advisers of President Aquino on the Arroyo case, if the former president gets well, the government would accede to any request from her on the detention facility that she prefers. Aside from the electoral sabotage case, Mrs. Arroyo is also facing several plunder cases, still in the preliminary investigation stage, for her alleged involvement in shady deals during her presidency. Mr. Aquino has vowed to prosecute Mrs. Arroyo and other officials of her administration who are charged with graft and corruption. Mrs. Arroyo is the second Philippine president to be charged and arrested. Former President Joseph Estrada was also charged of plunder in 2001. In 2007, Estrada was convicted and was sentenced to life imprisonment but was pardoned by Arroyo who succeeded him to the presidency after he was toppled by the second military- backed civilian uprising in the Philippines in December 2000.