The rehabilitation of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

How Amal Clooney, then Amal Alammudin came to defend GMA in the International Court of Human Rights is in itself an unbelievable story. I became involved in it accidentally. As I told former President Arroyo now Speaker Arroyo, I was with her mother, Baria Alammudin editor of Foreign Affairs of Al Hayat to deliver her laundry to her Knightsbridge flat.

I stay in the Alammuddin house in a London suburb when I visit. It has a huge garden with flowering trees and Baria and I would eat breakfast. Baria has now an empty nest since her husband Ramzi decided to stay in Beirut.

I talked to Amal about GMA’s case and she listened intently but she did not say anything at the time that she would take up her case but this was very much in her mind. I got a phone call from her many weeks after and said she was on her way to Singapore to speak at the Singapore University but she would pass by Manila if I could arrange a visit to GMA in the Veterans Hospital where she was imprisoned without bail. I agreed to find a way. She would not stay in a hotel but I told her not to worry because there is a room in my house which her mother also used when she visits Manila. She has interviewed every President but I did not even bother to help her get an interview with Noynoy Aquino. I gave her very specific instructions on what we would do to get into the jail of GMA. I would give my ID and write my name as a visitor but she was not to stop to wait for me but go straight ahead. I think the guards thought she looked foreigner so nothing to worry about. Inside while she and GMA discussed her case and what Amal would do she had to open her radio full blast so the conversation would not be heard. With only one night to stay in Manila I brought her around parties I was invited to and even gave a dinner in her honor. I was more interested in the South China Sea dispute which is also an expertise of her law firm, Doughty Chambers with some of the brightest solicitors in their firm.

When Amal takes up a case, she never lets go until its is done and won. By the time she met George Clooney, GMA’s case was still pending but despite a busy schedule commuting from London to Hollywood and Lake Como she continued to defend GMA.

Here is the case filed by Amal with GMA’s Philippine lawyers. This was emailed to me by Atty Larry Gadon.

“Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was President of the Republic of the Philippines for nine years, until 2010. She is currently an elected member of the Philippine House of Representatives.

Mrs Arroyo has spent over three years in detention as a result of unproved and politically motivated criminal charges and without any conviction having been entered against her. During this period, the Philippine Government has failed to protect, respect and fulfill her rights under international human rights law, including the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”).

Philippine law precludes the courts from considering a range of factors that must under international human rights law be taken into account in deciding whether pre-trial detention is necessary. Because she has been charged with an offence (plunder) that carries the maximum sentence of life imprisonment, Philippine law requires that a court must automatically deny bail if there is strong evidence of guilt. The court cannot – and did not, in her case – consider whether there is a risk of flight, evidence-tampering or re-offending, even though international human rights law requires detention on remand to be justified on such grounds if it is to be imposed. In denying bail to Mrs Arroyo on this automatic basis, the Phillipines court also failed to give any consideration to the possibility of applying less intrusive alternatives to pre-trial detention, even though this is required under international human rights law. The Philippine court failed to even rule on Mrs Arroyo’s bail for over a year, even though international human rights law requires courts to do so within hours or days of arrest. There has also been an unacceptably long delay in bringing Mrs Arroyo before a judge following her arrest and in bringing her to trial. Accordingly, Mrs Arroyo’s right to liberty under Article 9 of the ICCPR has been violated.

Mrs Arroyo’s treatment by the Philippine authorities also discloses a violation of her right to a fair trial under Article 14 of the ICCPR. The criminal prosecutions against Mrs Arroyo are politically motivated and persecutory in nature. The presumption of innocence was also violated when public officials made inappropriate comments suggesting Mrs Arroyo’s guilt before and during her trial. And the authorities failed to conclude the trial against her within a reasonable time, as required by Article 14.

Throughout her detention, Mrs Arroyo has also been barred from accessing any means of communication, including internet access, a mobile phone or a laptop computer. These unduly restrictive conditions of detention breach Mrs Arroyo’s right to seek, receive and impart information under Article 19 of the ICCPR and preclude her from performing her role as a democratically elected representative of the Filipino People and from taking part in the conduct of public affairs as she is entitled to do under Article 25 of the ICCPR.

Mrs Arroyo’s case has been filed before UN human rights bodies in Geneva by her international counsel, Amal Clooney and Katherine O’Byrne of Doughty Street Chambers. The UN will communicate Mrs Arroyo’s case to the government of the Philippines and the authorities will be given an opportunity to respond. It is hoped that the UN can intervene on an urgent basis, given the long period she has already spent in detention and in light of her deteriorating health and need for specialist medical treatment abroad.”

She will have the opportunity to rehabilitate her reputation as a person and politician in her post as Speaker of the House of Representatives in a stunning comeback. This column wishes her well in her stewardship of Congress and help President Duterte with his program of change with a new constitution for a federalist government.