The United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention released its opinion on Wednesday, October 7, that the detention of former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo “violates international law” and is “arbitrary on a number of grounds.”
It also recommends that Arroyo, who is facing plunder charges, be accorded “with an enforceable right to compensation” for having been deprived of her liberty.
The complaint was filed by international lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney in February 2015, on behalf of the former Philippine president and now Pampanga representative, who is suffering from “multilevel cervical spondylosis” or the wearing of the bones.
Philippine Star columnist Carmen Pedrosa quoted an email that Clooney emailed to one of her Philippine lawyers, Larry Gadon. The correspondence cites the UN panel’s opinion: “Mrs. Arroyo was denied bail on grounds that are not compatible with international law; she did not benefit from the presumption in favor of bail; she was denied bail exclusively on the basis of the alleged strength of evidence against her; measures alternative to pre-trial detention were not considered and there were undue delays in considering her bail position in the proceedings against her as a whole.”
Last March, Modesto Ticman, a lawyer representing Arroyo, said they were no longer seeking bail and had asked the UN to compel the Philippine government to release Arroyo on humanitarian grounds.
Arroyo is serving her second term as Pampanga congressman, but is under detention for plunder charges over the alleged misuse of P366 million ($8.2 million) by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) during her presidency.
Ticman noted that while the anti-graft court had denied her multiple petitions for bail, it had freed her co-accused, former members of the PCSO board of directors.
“The President has been in detention for nearly 3 years despite the weak evidence of the prosecution,” Ticman told Rappler in March.
He said that, in the Philippines, even if an accused is charged with a non-bailable offense, if the prosecution is weak, the court may allow the accused to post bail. He believes that, in Arroyo’s case, bail should have been granted.
As a result of the “government’s violations,” Clooney said the Working Group recommended “reconsideration of Mrs Arroyo’s application for bail in accordance with the relevant international human rights standards and to accord Ms Arroyo with an enforceable right to compensation…for the deprivation of liberty which already occurred.”
Ticman mentioned to Rappler that the case was brought to the attention of Amal Clooney back in December 2013. Arroyo’s Philippine lawyers Gadon and Ticman had been communicating with the international lawyer for at least 7 months prior to the filing of the complaint.
Clooney met Arroyo personally at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) through Pedrosa in December 2013.
