US-based former Iloilo councilor decries Mrs. Arroyo's arrest

US-based former Iloilo exec 

decries Mrs. Arroyo's arrest

By Alex P. Vidal

HOLLYWOOD, California -- A former councilor in San Miguel, Iloilo in the Philippines has decried the "intervention" of the Department of Justice that prevented Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from leaving the country to seek medical treatment abroad.

Reynaldo A. Uy, who ran and lost for mayor against Gregorio Villarico under the Liberal Party-Atienza Wing in 2007, reiterated the statement made by Sen. Edgardo Angara that the lower court can not overrule the decision of the Supreme Court which had approved Mrs. Arroyo's right to travel abroad for medical treatment.

Uy believed Mrs. Arroyo, being a former president, "deserved courtesy from the Aquino administration and should have been allowed to leave the country for Singapore last week for humanitarian reason."

"We cannot prevent the people from thinking that politics reared its ugly head when Mrs. Arroyo was prevented from seeking treatment abroad," said Uy, who now resides in San Antonio, Texas. 

Uy said, "Filipinos are known to be compassionate especially to women and the sick. Politics has no place in this kind of circumstance and it should take a back seat in favor of humility and compassion."

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Uy served as municipal councilor for three terms from 1995 to 2001 and was an ardent political supporter of Mrs. Arroyo.   

Uy lamented that justice system in the Philippines "can be influenced by political maneuvering" depending, he said, on who controls the power in Malacanang.

"The speed of their move to prevent the former president from leaving the country and the subsequent filing of election sabotage case against her was suspect," stressed Uy. "She was not even convicted yet but look at how some people treat her after she has served them for nine years. Is this how we pay back the services of a former leader?"

As this developed, a Pasay City court on November 21 allowed Mrs. Arroyo to stay at the St. Luke's Medical Center (SLMC) in Taguig City while waiting for her doctors to submit a report about her medical condition.

Report said the court did not issue a decision about making public the mug shots that police took of Mrs. Arroyo on November 19, a day after she was arrested for electoral sabotage. 

Pasay City Court Branch 112 clerk of court Joel Pelicano said they have to wait for the medical report submitted by SLMC, particularly Dr. Juliet Cervantes, Mrs. Arroyo's attending physician.