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MANILA, Philippines – Despite her detention and deteriorating health, former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will file her certificate of candidacy (COC) for a third term as Pampanga 2nd District Representative next week, her laywer said.
At a press conference on Thursday, October 8, Raul Lambino, a senior member Lakas-CMD, confirmed that a staff member from the party will file the COC in Pampanga on behalf of the former president.
“Pinrepepare ko ang kanyang (I’m preparing her) certificate of nomination as an official candidate of Lakas-CMD,” Lambino said. He added that she could file her COC as early as October 12.
Arroyo’s detention cannot be used as ground to disqualify her candidacy since she has not been convicted. She has been detained since 2012 for plunder charges arising from alleged misuse of P366 million in Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office intelligence funds for personal gain from 2008 to 2010.
She is under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City.
Responding to questions, Lambino said that Arroyo has continued to perform her duties as a lawmaker even while in detention.
“Even while being detained, Arroyo is among the representatives with the most number of bills being filed and passed into law,” he said in Filipino.
According to the House of Representatives website, Arroyo has filed over 250 bills during her two terms in Congress.
Lambino confirmed Arroyo’s re-election bid on the same day that her lawyers announced the opinion of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) that her detention “violates” international law.
The complaint with the UN body was filed in hopes that the international organization could compel the Philippine government to grant house arrest for the lawmaker who is sick with “multilevel cervical spondylosis,” a disorder that causes wearing of the bones.
On Wednesday, however, Malacañang said that while it respects UN opinion, “the Philippine government or any international body, for that matter, cannot interfere nor influence the course of an independent judicial proceeding.”– Rappler.com
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