ASIA / PACIFIC
Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
August 1, 2016
Philippine court clears Arroyo of plunder
By Teresa Cerojano
The Associated Press
ANILA, The Philippines — The Philippine
Supreme Court has dismissed a plunder case
against former President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo and ordered her freed immediately after years of
hospital detention — a decision the grateful ex-leader
indicated can help her deal with those who “through
self-serving interpretation and implementation of the
law” made her suffer.
The 15 justices voted 11-4 to grant Arroyo’s petition
seeking to dismiss the case before the special anti-graft
Sandiganbayan court because of insufficient evidence,
Supreme Court spokesman Theodore Te said. The case
involved the alleged misuse of 366 million pesos ($7.8
million) from the state lottery agency, the Philippine
Charity Sweepstakes Office.
Arroyo thanked the court “for finally stopping the
persecution I had unjustly gone through the last five
years” and President Rodrigo Duterte “for allowing due
process to take its course.”
She released a statement while still detained in the
hospital, with the serving of the court’s order for an
immediate release apparently delayed by paperwork.
“It is my fervent hope that nobody else will suffer the
persecution that had been levied on me through
self-serving interpretation and implementation of the
law,” she said. “And that the disregard for truth for which
I was made to suffer be dealt with accordingly at the
soonest possible time.”
Jesus Dureza, who had been Arroyo’s adviser on peace
talks with communist and Muslim rebels, told reporters:
“I rejoice over this decision that has already given her
what she rightly deserves, which is justice.”
Dureza said he congratulated Arroyo in a phone call and
heard many supporters in the background as she spoke.
Dureza was reappointed as peace talks adviser under the
current president, Rodrigo Duterte, who added a number
of Arroyo allies to his cabinet.
Arroyo, 69, finished her tumultuous nine-year term in
2010, but was arrested the following year on an election
fraud charge, for which she was allowed to post bail. She
was later charged with plunder. Despite her detention,
she was re-elected to congress in May. She stayed in a
hospital rather than a prison because of her degenerative
lumbar spine disease and neck ailment that prompted her
to use a wheelchair and brace in public.
Arroyo was detained under former President Benigno
Aquino III, who accused her of corruption and misrule.
Aquino’s successor, Duterte, however, has said the
plunder case against her was weak. Arroyo rejected
Duterte’s offer of a pardon because it would require that
she be first convicted, preferring to fight the allegation.
A daughter of a former Philippine president and a
classmate of former U.S. President Bill Clinton at
Georgetown University, Arroyo had been a senator and
vice president before suddenly rising to the presidency in
2001 after then-President Joseph Estrada was ousted in a
revolt she helped lead.
She won regular elections in 2004, but her presidency
was rocked by a series of corruption and vote-rigging
scandals, including wiretapped conversations with an
election official where some alleged she discussed
ensuring her vote lead. Arroyo admitted talking to an
election official and apologized for her “lapse in
M
INAPPROPRIATE PLAYPLACE. People are seen playing
Pokémon Go near the Atomic Bomb Dome at Hiroshima Peace Memorial
Park in Hiroshima, Japan. Players of the game are descending on the
atomic bomb memorial park in Hiroshima — and officials of the western
Japanese city are displeased. They have asked game developer Niantic
Inc. to remove the “Pokéstops” and other virtual sites that show up in the
park for those playing the augmented-reality game. The city wants them
deleted by August 6, the anniversary of the 1945 bombing and the date
of an annual ceremony to remember the victims. (Kyodo News via AP)
Hiroshima unhappy
atomic-bomb park
is Pokémon Go site
TOKYO (AP) — Pokémon Go players are descending on
an atomic bomb memorial park in Hiroshima — and
officials of the western Japanese city are displeased.
They have asked game developer Niantic Inc. to remove
the “Pokéstops” and other virtual sites that show up in the
park for those playing the augmented-reality game. The
city wants them deleted by August 6, the anniversary of
the 1945 bombing and the date of an annual ceremony to
remember the victims.
Niantic declined to comment, saying it would not make
public any discussions with a third party.
The expansive Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is
meant as a solemn memorial to the victims. It has become
a draw for players since the Japan release of the addictive
smartphone game.
Elsewhere, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in
Washington, D.C., and nearby Arlington National
Cemetery, have made similar requests to Niantic.
It is unclear if and how the game developer will respond.
Niantic offers a form to request exclusions, but it’s neither
automatic nor guaranteed.
The location-aware app gives digital rewards for
visiting real places that have been designated as
“Pokéstops” and “Gyms” in the game.
q
Japan’s nine safety tips for Pokémon Go
Continued from page 3
cartoon of two pistol-
wielding men in cowboy
gear to emphasize the
point.
Beware of people who
say they want to meet
The government warns
against meeting strangers.
Bring an adult if players
absolutely have to meet in
person and avoid playing
the game in a place where
no one is around.
Do not use
smartphones
while walking
There are many acci-
dents related to texting
while walking. The game
has a feature that a phone
vibrates when a character
appears near players. If it
does, stop and check out the
surroundings before look-
ing at a smartphone.
CASE DISMISSED. Former Philippine President and now congress-
woman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo smiles beside her neck brace during
the opening session of the Philippine Congress where President Rodrigo
Duterte delivered his first state of the nation address at the House of Rep-
resentatives in suburban Quezon city north of Manila, the Philippines.
The Philippine Supreme Court dismissed the plunder charge against
former President Arroyo, ordering her immediate release from hospital
detention. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
judgement” in making such a call, but said the
conversation occurred after the votes had been counted.
Raul Lambino, one of Arroyo’s lawyers, said the mood
turned jubilant in Arroyo’s hospital room when word
leaked that the country’s highest court was set to strike
down the only criminal case keeping her detained. Arroyo
was smiling in the picture he took with her.
Another Arroyo lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, said the
Supreme Court “has once again proven itself to be the
final bastion of justice and the rule of law.”
The ruling, he said, validated the position of the Arroyo
camp that the charges against her were “nothing more
than disingenuous attempts at political persecution.”
“We are reminding the Supreme Court that the Arroyo
government left behind 1,206 victims of political killings
and 206 victims of enforced disappearances among
activists, peasants, and human-rights workers,” said
Cristina Palabay, secretary general of the human-rights
group Karapatan. She said the 2009 massacre of 58
people, including 32 journalists, in the world’s worst
single killing of media workers, also happened during
Arroyo’s term.
Karapatan said “while plunderers and murderers like
Arroyo are set free from prison, more than 500 political
prisoners remain in jail, many of them arrested during the
Arroyo regime.”
The 69-year-old Arroyo was whisked out of a military
veterans’ hospital in suburban Quezon city and driven to
her home in the upscale La Vista residential enclave in the
Manila metropolis, her lawyer, Lawrence Arroyo, said.
She did not appear before throngs of journalists who
waited for her release. Back at home, Arroyo had dinner
with some of her children and grandchildren and
expressed eagerness to return to the House of
Representatives, to which she was re-elected in May
despite her detention. She attended President Rodrigo
Duterte’s state of the nation address, lawyer Ferdinand
Topacio, an Arroyo supporter, said.
AP writer Jim Gomez contributed to this report.
Wondering what events are going on this week?
Check out The Asian Reporter’s Community and A.C.E. Calendar sections, on pages 10 and 12.
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