Gloria Arroyo guns anew for representative of Pampanga 2nd District

Former president and House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo filed her certificate of candidacy for Pampanga 2nd District Representative on Friday, October 1, ending a three-year hiatus from the political limelight.

She will vie for the post now occupied by her eldest son, Juan Miguel Macapagal Arroyo, who served just one-term.

The former president was congresswoman for this district for three consecutive terms from 2010 to 2019.

The 2nd District of Pampanga is composed of the municipalities of Floridablanca, Guagua, Lubao, Porac, Santa Rita and Sasmuan. 

Just before wrapping up her third term in Congress, Arroyo became House speaker,  serving from July 23, 2018, until the end of the 17th Congress.

She also was the first female vice president in the country from 1998 to 2001. Previous to that she was senator from 1992 to 1998.

Arroyo’s legal counsel lawyer Peter Paul Magalang filed the COC on her behalf. 

Arroyo was the second president to be detained for plunder for the alleged misuse of the P366 million fund from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

 She was acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2016 for insufficiency of evidence. 

Joann Manabat is a Luzon-based journalist and an awardee of the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship.