Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The Supreme Court may have decided on dismissing plunder charges against former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo after her successor Benigno Aquino III stepped down to show respect and to avoid embarrassing him, her lead counsel said Wednesday.
Former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza said the arrest and detention of Arroyo on plunder charges dramatized the Aquino government’s serious anti-corruption campaign.
“Ito yung ipinagmamalaking accomplishment ng Daang Matuwid,” Mendoza said in an interview with CNN Philippines. “Kung lalabas yan habang presidente yan (Aquino), baka naman sabihin ipinahiya siya ng Supreme Court.”
[Translation: This is the proud accomplishment of “Daang Matuwid” (Straight Path). If that (decision) was released while he was still President, that could have been interpreted as being humiliated by the Supreme Court.]
“It was perhaps out of deference to the respect that the Supreme Court had for President Aquino that they deferred the release of the decision,” he said.
Aquino had targeted the alleged massive corruption under Arroyo’s nine-year administration when he took office in 2010. His administration’s slogan was “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” (where there is no corruption, there is no poverty) and said his administration was following the “Daang Matuwid” path of governance.
After the plunder case was filed, Arroyo was arrested in 2012 and has been detained since at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center because of an ailment in her neck bone.
Watch: Timeline: The Gloria Arroyo PCSO plunder case
Senator Leila de Lima, Aquino’s Justice Secretary who stopped Arroyo from leaving the country after the plunder complaint was filed against the former president, said the timing of the decision was questionable.
De Lima said she was at a loss when she heard reports on the Supreme Court’s decision.
“Reaction ko lang is ‘What’s happening?’,” De Lima told reporters. “Why did they have to wait for the change in administration to issue that ruling?”
Mendoza said the court ruling on charges that Arroyo took as much as P372 million from the charity funds would have been the same even if it had been handed down while Aquino was still in Malacanang.
“Hindi lamang insufficient, walang ebidensiya (laban kay Arroyo),” Mendoza said.
[Translation: It wasn’t just insufficient, there actually was no evidence (against Arroyo).]
He said the prosecution’s 633 exhibits and 21 witnesses could not tie Arroyo to the charity funds.
“Maski isang papel o maski isang testigo, walang nagsabi na si Presidente Arroyo merong kinuha maski piso doon sa 372 million,” he said.
[Translation: Not one piece of paper, not one witness could say that President Arroyo took even one peso from the 372 million.]
Mendoza said he doesn’t “usually recommend” taking legal action against those who file charges against his clients, leaving that decision to Arroyo. He said, however, that the citizens of the Second District of Pampanga also suffered from her incarceration, denying them a representative in Congress. Arroyo won a seat in Congress after she stepped down.
Also read: SC Spokesperson: Arroyo’s release order ‘on its way’ to being issued
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, who filed the plunder case against Arroyo, said she believes that the prosecution presented evidence strong enough to convict her.
“If the Supreme Court indeed believes the evidence of the prosecution is insufficient, we believe otherwise,” Morales told reporters. “We were able to present strong evidence … the prosecution was able to prove the guilt, beyond reasonable doubt, of the accused.”
Morales said it was former PCSO Budget and Accounts Manager Benigno Aguas, Arroyo’s co-accused whose case also was dismissed by the Supreme Court, who certified that intelligence funds were diverted to Malacañang.
She said Aguas said under oath that more than P244 million of the over P300 intelligence funds of the PCSO went to the Office of the President.
Morales declined to answer when asked if she thinks the high tribunal’s decision was politically motivated.
“Please, next question,” she said.
