The former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been arrested on charges of election rigging, according to the Philippine police.
Mrs Arroyo was served with an arrest warrant in her hospital room, where she will be guarded but won’t be taken to a detention facility because of her medical condition.
The former leader, who is under investigation for several allegations of corruption and poll cheating, tried to leave the country on Tuesday for medical treatment abroad for a bone ailment.
But she was barred from boarding her flight by the government, even though the supreme court issued an order allowing her to leave. The government said it had not received a copy of the order.
The conflict between the government and the supreme court has given rise to widespread fears of a constitutional crisis. The Supreme Court on Friday instructed Leila de Lima, justice secretary, to explain why she should not be cited in contempt of court for ignoring the court’s order allowing Mrs Arroyo to leave.
The legal controversy underscores the challenges facing president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who ran for office on an anti-corruption platform, including a promise to investigate and prosecute the former leader.
A majority of members of the supreme court were appointed under Mrs Arroyo. The court has blocked Mr Aquino’s first executive order creating a “truth commission” to look into allegations of wrongdoing in the previous administration.
The charges against Mrs Arroyo and former top election officers were filed by the Commission on Elections, an independent constitutional body, on Friday. The case centres on allegations that Mrs Arroyo rigged the outcome of the senatorial elections in 2007.
The former president’s spokespeople have rejected the charges, and her lawyers have questioned the legality of the special inter-agency task force that conducted the investigation. They have also said that the case was filed this morning as a crude attempt to circumvent the supreme court order allowing Mrs Arroyo to leave.
Mrs Arroyo was president for two terms from 2001-10. Her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, was also arrested on charges of corruption in 2001. He stayed in hospital and his holiday home during the trial and was immediately pardoned after his conviction in 2007.
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Source: Financial Times, Nov. 18, 2011
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