JOIN USA Philippine court on Wednesday granted ex-president Gloria Arroyo bail, saying the charge of vote fraud for which she has been detained for eight months is weak.
The Pasay City regional trial court, which is hearing the case, said Arroyo could be released from the military hospital where she is being detained as soon as she posted bail of one million pesos ($ 23,800). “The court believes that the prosecution failed to establish with the required quantum of proof, that conspiracy exists on the part of accused Arroyo,” said the court’s bail order.
“Accordingly, accused Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is allowed to post bail for her provisional liberty in the amount of one million pesos.” However the court said she could not leave the country.
Arroyo, 65, was arrested at an exclusive hospital shortly after immigration authorities blocked her at Manila airport while trying to leave the country in November. She was charged with “electoral sabotage”, a crime punishable with life in jail, for allegedly conspiring with a feared political warlord to rig the 2007 senatorial election
Her successor, Benigno Aquino, had vowed to have her brought to justice for many acts of corruption he alleged she committed during her nine years in office.