Christmas in jail for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo or bust for P-Noy

In Tokyo on Sept. 25, President Aquino gave his administration a deadline to file more cases against officials of the previous administration, who were involved in alleged corruption deals. And he set a target—to send them to jail by early next year.

Speaking to the Filipino community at Japan Educator Center, the President, criticized in Manila for being away while two typhoons battered the Philippines, tried to blunt the brickbats by shifting attention to his favorite theme—the alleged corruption scandals of the Arroyo administration.

“We will start filing the cases before the end of this year and with a little cooperation from the judiciary, maybe we can put some of these people in jail next year,” he said. “We will hold them responsible so no one else will follow their example.”

The President cited, among other cases, the alleged irregularity in the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., where officials reportedly spent P1 billion for coffee in various casinos under its control; and the 2009 sale to the  Philippine National Police of second-hand helicopters allegedly previously owned by Jose Miguel Arroyo, husband of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The President took a swipe at the Supreme Court, saying that he would need the “cooperation” of the Court, which had been packed with Arroyo appointees. The President had earlier said that Chief Justice Renato Corona had been hostile to his administration, suggesting that this hostility could be a block to his administration’s campaign to send corrupt officials to jail.

By taking the Supreme Court to task for lack of cooperation with the political objectives of his administration, the President fell short of saying that he needed a compliant, subordinated judiciary, but he did say he was dismayed with the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Court, suspending elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) this year. He said the TRO was a “case in point” of an uncooperative judiciary. He noted that the term of incumbent ARMM officials would expire on Sept. 26, but the Court had yet to decide on petitions against the poll suspension. The President quibbled: “They tell me. It’s already (Sept. 27) today. Do you have cooperation?” he said “There is a TRO. On Sept. 30, sitting officials no longer have any authority so they cannot keep their positions. But we cannot appoint (because of the) TRO.”

But presidential subalterns went on overdrive to produce, before the end of the year, the cases and outcome desired by the President, after sensing his impatience for results, and despite the uncertainties posed by an independent Supreme Court which has proved to the unaccommodating to the current administration’s bullet-train speed in preparing cases against officials of the past administration.

On Oct. 5, Sixto Brillantes, chair of the supposedly constitutionally independent Commission on Elections, suggested that the joint Department of Justice-Comelec panel investigating the alleged massive poll fraud in 2004 and 2007 was expected to wrap up its inquiry in December.  After he was finally confirmed as Comelec chair by the Commission on Appointments, Brillantes told reporters that he and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had agreed to complete the investigation “in a few months.”

“It turns out that at the rate we are going, we can finish it by December… we can finish this before Christmas.”

Brillantes did not stop there.  He went on to say that former President Arroyo and her husband, Mike Arroyo, may be detained without bail if the joint panel finds probable cause that they masterminded the rigging of the 2007 senatorial polls in Maguindanao. Brillantes and De Lima were lawyers for the opposition in election protest cases and are in an inquisitorial mode. Brillantes agreed with De Lima that the “direct knowledge” and “first hand  account” of former Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas, the latest government witness on the 2007 election  irregularities, would be  a strong piece of evidence against the Arroyos. Unas, a former senior aide of former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., has submitted to the DOJ-Comelec panel an affidavit claiming that shortly before the 2007 elections, he heard Arroyo ordering his boss to ensure a 12-0 sweep of administration candidates in the province.

In Malacañang, President Aquino’s spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said it was up to the justice department to evaluate Unas’ testimony but he expressed belief that the evidence against the former president was “very strong.”  Adding his own spin to the affidavit, Lacierda said Unas “is the first person to identify and testify to have personal knowledge that then President Arroyo ordered a 12-0 sweep in the 2007 elections.  He said, “This is personal knowledge. Under the rules of evidence, personal knowledge is very strong evidence.”

On the basis of Unas’ affidavit alone, Brillantes  went off flying to an exuberant scenario that Arroyo and her husband could be detained without bail if the joint panel found probable cause that they were behind the alleged rigging of the 2007 senatorial elections.

“If we find probable cause and file the charge of electoral sabotage, that’s not a bailable crime, so it’s immediate detention. We should be finished even before [Christmas],” he  said.

That is—if the government finds probable cause (still uncertain). Or if it cuts corners on due process. Then the “uncooperative” Supreme Court could step in.  If these happens, all bets are off. Then the project to rush the Arroyos to jail by Christmas could blow up on P-Noy’s face.