Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan on Thursday ordered the release of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from hospital detention following the Supreme Court’s decision to junk the plunder case against her.
The Sandiganbayan received the high court’s decision and directed the police to free Arroyo and a co-accused, Benigno Aguas, “from detention immediately, unless they are being held in custody for other reasons” not related to the plunder case.
Copies of the Sandiganbayan order were supposed to also be given to the Special Prosecutor, Arroyo’s lawyers, Philippine National Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa, the police custodial unit guarding Arroyo, and the Director of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) where Arroyo has been detained for nearly four years.
Arroyo was arrested in October 2012 on charges that she misused ₱366 million in intelligence funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) from 2008 to 2010.
Timeline: The Gloria Arroyo PCSO plunder case
She was detained in the hospital after being diagnosed with cervical spondylosis, a degenerative disease of the bones and cartilage of the neck.
From the Veterans hospital, Arroyo may head straight to her home in La Vista Subdivision. One of her lawyers Laurence Arroyo told CNN Philippines the former President may later undergo an executive check up.
