Former president Gloria Arroyo is seeking a Christmas furlough from the courts so she can spend the holidays outside detention with her family.
I don’t see any good reason to not grant her this request. Just because you may not be a fan of Gloria or you may dislike her for one reason or another, this shouldn’t prevent the courts from allowing her this furlough. The prosecution and the Ombudsman have no solid evidence to even justify her being detained. We all know Gloria is detained because that’s what President Aquino and his administration want; still the humane and right thing to do is to grant
her bail.
According to the Department of Justice and the National Bureau of Investigation, the evidence against Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, in relation to his involvement in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam, is solid and strong and “ceiling-high.” Nevertheless, he was allowed to take a nice little vacation in the United States. So why not give Gloria a brief furlough to be spent right in the Philippines? She is no threat. She will not leave the country. In fact, she is not even trying to elude the charges against her, unlike what Panfilo Lacson, President Aquino’s newly
appointed rehabilitation czar, did.
If Gloria is not granted a Christmas furlough, it will not be a surprise. It will just show how heartless and selective the Aquino administration’s brand of justice is.
—TONY BOTWIN,
anthonybotwin@yahoo.com