Compassionate Speculation on Health Condition
Versus Hilarious Conjecture
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Former president Arroyo is suffering from multiple cervical spondylosis or the wearing off of the bones and cartilage of the neck,[7] and has been detained at Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) since October 2012.
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When asked why Arroyo was not wearing her neck brace prior to her release, Obet Martin, one of the supporters of the former president’s projects to modernize public transportation during her administration,[8] and president of transport group Pasang Masda said that perhaps she was feeling warm with it while entertaining her visitors which she would eventually put again if pain was not tolerable anymore.[9]
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Commentary
I don’t know what prompted the media to ask about the non-wearing of neck brace prior to Arroyo’s release, but this reminds me of former President Aquino’s statement: Our fellow Filipinos who are corrupt use luxurious cars, so fast and expensive. But they use a wheelchair when they want to escape.
Even with her arrest and neck illness which prompted her to be moved around on a wheelchair, she was reelected to the House of Representatives in May.
Meaning, people still believe on how they behave and talk. Whoever says the truth, let each one’s words be her/his judge, in God’s time.
11 Justices Concurring on GMA Release
Versus 4 Justices Dissenting on the Ruling
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Eleven of the justices favored in a vote dismissing Arroyo’s case, including Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita de Castro, Arturo Brion, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Mariano del Castillo, Jose Perez, Jose Mendoza, Bienvenido Reyes, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Francis Jardeleza.[10]
Of the 11, eight are Arroyo appointees and 3 were appointed by Aquino: Bernabe, Reyes and Jardeleza.
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Four of the justices opposed the decision to dismiss, including Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Senior Justice Antonio Carpio, Justice Marvic Leonen and Justice Alfredo Caguioa.
Sereno, Leonen and Caguioa were appointees of former President Benigno Aquino III while Carpio was an appointee of Arroyo.[11]
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COMMENTARY
The significance of justice has been taught since the day of the prophets and up to this generation but it seems that even in these modern times, there are still some who repress it than uphold it, as seen in the division of votes among the Supreme Court justices.
Amos 5:7 Woe to those who turn judgment to wormwood and cast justice to the ground!
Isaiah 10:1 Woe to those who enact unjust status and who write oppressive decrees.
If I’ll be malicious on the presented names attached with “appointee,” evidently the Supreme Court is largely dominated by connection of the highly political former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (11 justices were appointees of former Pres. Arroyo while the remaining 4 were appointees of former Pres. Benigno Aquino III). I could say that the justices’ connection to Arroyo has a huge weight of influence to her release than the truth about the plunder case filed by the Sandiganbayan.
Taking the situation in this context of judgment, it’s evident to say that these justices look not on the merit of the presented evidences of the anti-graft but on the merit of giving back the favor to the person who appointed them. Thus, I would not be surprised if Senator and former Justice Chief Leila de Lima, would marvel why did it so long for Supreme Court to release (an accused of plunder and placed under hospital arrest since 2012), and waited for the change in administration before issuing the decision.
De Lima, who was disappointed of the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision, took the exoneration of former president Arroyo not a total surprise, saying that the likelihood crossed her mind in August 2015 when then Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile was granted bail, and that the decision was released at a time when anti-corruption efforts in the Philippines have been receiving great compliments from around the world.[12]
It’s interesting to note that De Lima used the word “exoneration” on probability that they know for a fact of culpability. Aquino pursued the PCSO plunder case against Arroyo, who approved the disbursement of P365 million from the agency’s intelligence funds from 2008 to 2010, and the money remained unaccounted for.
In a corporate setting, any reimbursement that’s not accounted properly with supporting receipts (regardless if it’s 1,000 pesos or P100 pesos) is not disbursed by the accounting. What more with this enormous amount?
De Lima said that the Supreme Court should allow the Sandiganbayan to evaluate the facts of cases as the latter rejected Arroyo's plea for bail several times and the demurrer to evidence. “While we have yet to ascertain and assess the full effect of this decision, I am 100% sure that this is demoralizing or disheartening to most of us, to say the least, as it delivers a huge blow to all our initiatives,” she added.
This is not about disapproval of exoneration if it’s really a gesture of pardoning the guilty out of humanitarian reason (as in the case of Sen. Enrile - with Supreme Court’s Justice Bersamin’s ponencia that freed him: “With his solid reputation in his public and his private lives, his long years of public service, and history’s judgment of him being at stake, he should be granted bail”)[13] but if this is the point of argument, then the Supreme Court should exercise fair treatment between the detained elderly government officials and ordinary senior citizens, by also exonerating the former, whatever crimes they have committed may be.
Conversely, if the Supreme Court 11 justices’ decision has been really based on truth that the conscience dictates, drawing its ruling from the insufficient evidences as they claim it, then why did they allow this case to last for 4 years of detention at Veterans Medical Center? In 2014, Arroyo filed the "demurrer to evidence" before the anti-graft court, Sandiganbayan, which was dismissed in April 2015, paving the way for her trial for plunder over the accusation on abuse of PCSO funds. Consequently, Arroyo disputed with the Sandiganbayan decision before the Supreme Court in a 100-page petition filed by Mendoza, her legal counsel.
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