Arroyo visits grandson’s funeral

MANILA, Philippines – Former President Gloria MacapagalArroyo visited on Monday night, November 3, the wake of her one-year-old grandson, who died Sunday due to a heart ailment.

According to a DZMM report, Arroyo, now congresswoman of Pampanga, was able to go back to her hospital detention at state-run Veterans Memorial Medical Center at around 10:30 pm.

The funeral mass started at 8 pm and was held at the Cambridge Circle, North Forbes Park, the Macapagals’ ancestral home, the report said.

Arroyo’s Cabinet officials during her presidency were reportedly present in the wake, including former Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, former presidential spokesperson and chief of staff Elena Bautista Horn, former Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, and former Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera.

Quoting Arroyo’s lawyer Lawrence Arroyo, the report said the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan First Division allowed the former president to leave detention only for Monday night.

On Tuesday morning, November 4, the court will hear Arroyo’s motion for a 9-day house stay in her residence at La Vista, Quezon City, to attend the daily wake and the burial of her grandson.

Arroyo explained that she is not a flight risk and “would like to be with and pray with her family” for the next 9 days, “as is the religious custom.”

“President Arroyo would like to believe that there is room enough in our justice system to accommodate the request of a grandmother to be allowed to properly grieve the loss of a grandson’s life,” her motion read.

The youngest son of Arroyo’s daughter  Luli Arroyo-Bernas and husband Luigi died Sunday morning, November 2, at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City.

Arroyo is on hospital arrest due to a plunder case over the alleged misuse of P366-million worth of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office funds. – Rappler.com