Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be under house arrest

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (Wikipedia photo)

MANILA – Former president and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be under house arrest after the Sandiganbayan’s resolution had been approved by the House Committee.

1BAP partylist Representative Silvestre Bello III initiated the House Resolution No. 1998 for humanitarian reasons. With a vote of 8-1, the resolution had been approved.

The House Committee was in favor of the resolution after hearing that Arroyo’s health had not gone better despite taking multiple medications. They also said that Arroyo was not flight risk, along were her doctors from the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC).

In 2011, Arroyo had been diagnosed with complications in her spinal cord. And in 2012, she was ordered under hospital arrest.

Earlier this year, Arroyo requested for a house arrest in La Vista, Quezon City, where she resides. Arroyo’s camp insisted that a house arrest would speed up her recovery.

Justice committee chairman Neil Tupas, however, clarified that the resolution was non-binding with the Sandiganbayan as the anti-graft court still had the final say. With regards to this, the solon believed that the resolution will also be approved in the plenary.