Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Jesus Mupas granted the bail petition of Arroyo.
The former president prayed after hearing the news.
Lawyers of Arroyo led by Ray Montri Arroyo immediately posted P1-million cash bond and secured an order for Arroyo’s release.
She was freed after eight months of detention at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City where she is undergoing treatment for her ailments.
The RTC said Arroyo could leave the country only after getting permission from the court.
Arroyo’s convoy left the hospital, where she has been detained since December, at around 2:30 p.m. and went directly to her home in La Vista, Quezon City.
In a seven-page resolution read by RTC branch 112 spokesperson Felda Domingo, the judge ruled that the prosecution failed to present a strong case in its opposition to the bail petition of Arroyo.
The court denied the bail petitions of Arroyo’s co-accused, former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. and former Maguindanao election officer Lintang Bedol.
Mupas said the bail petitions of Ampatuan and Bedol were denied after state witness Norie Unas, former Maguindanao provincial administrator and close adviser of the governor, testified that Ampatuan gave him money to provide logistical support to local election officers to ensure the victory of Team Unity senatorial candidates of the Arroyo administration.
Several witnesses pointed to Bedol as the alleged leader of the cheating in the Maguindanao polls.
Ampatuan is currently detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) detention cell at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. The former governor was earlier detained with his co-accused in the killing of 57 people in the co-called Maguindanao massacre in 2009.
Bedol is detained at the PNP Custodial Center at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
Domingo explained that although electoral sabotage is a non-bailable offense, the prosecution, which is headed by Commission on Elections (Comelec) lawyers, failed to present strong and convincing evidence in the direct participation of Arroyo in the alleged cheating after several court hearings that started in May.
The Comelec has presented 10 witnesses, including Unas who testified that he overheard Arroyo instructing former governor Ampatuan to ensure the 12-0 victory of the Team Unity senatorial bets during the May 2007 mid-term elections.
Domingo, however, clarified that the ruling only applies to the bail petition and the merits of the case will be deliberated on during the trial to determine if Arroyo and her co-accused are guilty or not.
The pretrial hearing of the case was set on Aug. 23.
“The court has cast doubt on the testimony of former Maguindanao administrator Norie Unas that he overheard former President Arroyo giving orders to ensure the 12-0 victory for the Team Unity,” she said.
The court also took note of the testimony of Unas that he testified against Arroyo in exchange for immunity from criminal charges.
Government prosecutors last week filed separate plunder charges at the Sandiganbayan against Arroyo and nine other former officials for alleged misuse of P365 million from Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office funds.
Topacio said Arroyo’s lawyers have filed motions questioning the filing of the plunder charges without first informing Arroyo of the criminal investigation results so she could respond to them before an indictment is made.
Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo face a separate graft case also in the Sandiganbayan related to an overpriced government contract with Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE Corp. for a $329-million national broadband project that was later scuttled because of the scandal. They pleaded not guilty during arraignment in April.
GMA prayed, thanked God
Arroyo daughter Luli Arroyo-Bernas said that her mother immediately prayed and thanked God after learning that she was allowed to post bail.
Bernas said she rushed to the VMMC and got emotional upon hearing the news.
“She (Arroyo) said thank God and we all prayed,” Bernas said.
“I embraced her tightly and broke down because I could not believe that this was happening,” she said.
Bernas said it was her mother who actually calmed her down, together with other family members and friends who were in the hospital suite.
“It (bail) showed that there is still hope for justice in the country. For us, we have always followed and respected the legal process because we know if everyone followed the process and the rule of law, she will be proven innocent,” she said.
Former first gentleman Mike Arroyo said he was at the hospital suite at the VMMC when the sheriff brought the release order in the morning.
“We read the order together and we were both surprised and happy by the order,” he said, adding he felt vindicated as from the start he believed there was no evidence to support the case against his wife.
He said the former president ate plenty of champorado (cocoa rice porridge) after reading the order.
“She lost much weight, she’s really thin,” he said.
He said the family would immediately hold a thanksgiving mass and have a simple celebration.
Mike Arroyo and House Minority leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez in separate statements said until she was released, Arroyo was still apprehensive that there would be last minute attempts to prevent her from leaving VMMC.
Suarez said he and other congressional allies and former Cabinet officials visited Arroyo when the news of her bail came out.
He said Arroyo could seek permission to be allowed to travel abroad for medical treatment.
“It would be better if government doctors verify and attest to the medical bulletin suggesting that she get medical treatment abroad, so that there would be no objection from Malacañang,” Suarez said.
Arroyo’s spokesperson Ma. Elena Bautista-Horn said the former leader immediately retired to her bedroom to rest after arriving at La Vista.
Horn appealed to the media and the general public to allow Arroyo to “enjoy some precious moments with her family for the meantime.”
“She is not yet out of danger and still needs close medical attention and supervision,” Horn said, adding the former leader would check into a facility for alternative medicine somewhere in Tagaytay City until the weekend.
“Let us be considerate enough to give her the chance to make up for lost time with her children and grandchildren and let us help her to continue and support her recuperation from her ailment,” she said.
“We wish to convey her appreciation to all those who supported her during these trying times,” she added.
VMMC director Nona Legaspi said the condition of the former president has “improved” since she was brought to the VMMC in December last year.
Arroyo was transferred to VMMC from St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City on orders of a Pasay court hearing the electoral sabotage case filed against her.
When asked how much hospital expenses the former president had incurred during her seven-month stay at the government hospital, Legaspi said: “We don’t know yet.”
Topacio on his Twitter account described as “festive” the mood at the VMMC’s presidential suite, where the former president had stayed.
On Monday, she will resume her four times a week physical therapy session at the VMMC, she said.
When her convoy reached the La Vista gate, the former president, who was wearing her neck brace and a scapular, rolled down the car window and waved to her supporters.
Upon arriving at La Vista, Arroyo was met by her grandchild by Camarines Sur Rep. Dato Arroyo, who was on his way to Manila from Bicol as of press time.
‘Triumph of justice over dictatorship’
Arroyo’s lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said the court’s grant of bail to Arroyo is a “triumph of justice and a resounding denial of dictatorship.”
Topacio lauded what he tagged as judicial independence despite “attacks” by the executive.
He said the former president would now be able to better pursue medical courses of action to address her illness.
Topacio said, “This is a reaffirmation of what our camp has been saying all along, that the charges against the former President are baseless, as thin as the soup made from boiling the shadow of a chicken that has been starved to death.”
“By going against the shrill dictates of Malacañang, as voiced out by its fanatical mouthpieces, the courts have shown once again that it may be counted upon as the last bulwark of our people’s rights as against a creeping authoritarianism that threatens to envelop our land and turn it into a juridical wasteland,” Topacio said.
Topacio said Arroyo’s husband is happy for his wife.
“Attorney Arroyo expresses his gratitude to all those who have stood by the Arroyo Family in their hour of gravest trial, and who have given moral support by their presence, words of encouragement and prayers. He also gives thanks to President Arroyo’s legal team headed by Benjamin Santos for their vigorous and able representation of Mrs. Arroyo,” Topacio said.
“Truly, God sees the truth but waits, and the wheels of justice may grind slowly, but it grinds exceedingly well. May the eyes of the Filipino people henceforth be opened to the abuses to the civil and political rights being wrought by the present administration, so that the lies being perpetuated be taken for what they are: desperate efforts by a government that has no leg to stand on, and thus must destroy the good works of others so that it may build itself up.”
Former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the grant of bail to the former president only showed that she is innocent of the charges.
“The grant of bail by the court is an indication that the evidence of guilt is weak,” said Bello.
Shortly after news broke out that the court had granted the bail petition of Arroyo, members of militant groups trooped to the gates of VMMC to protest.
Protesters from Bayan, Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Anakpawis, among others, said jail and not bail was what the former president deserved.
A group of residents from Barangay Sto. Domingo, Quezon City claiming to support the former president assembled at the opposite side of North Avenue across VMMC gate.
Carrying placards saying “Welcome back GMA,” the residents said they have always believed in the former president’s innocence.
Militants protesting the court order and Arroyo’s supporters waited for her convoy to come out from the hospital’s North Avenue gate.
Tensions grew when a vehicle used by the court sheriff who brought the release order signed by judge Mupas arrived at around 1:30 p.m.
As the convoy carrying the former president sneaked out of the smaller gate on Mindanao Avenue, the vehicle of her lawyer Topacio passed by the main gate along North Avenue.
Angry protesters stopped Topacio’s vehicle and placed their posters on the car’s windshield.
But when news broke that Arroyo was leaving, the protesting militants ran to the other gate.
The former president’s supporters followed suit.
At the Mindanao Avenue gates, those who managed to catch up with the convoy blocked the convoy, in an attempt to set up a physical barrier that would prevent the former president’s vehicle from leaving.
Eventually, the convoy managed to snake through the crowd blocking the entire road.
The convoy reached the sprawling Arroyo compound at No. 14 Badjao Street in La Vista subdivision at around 3:20 p.m.
At least 10 policemen were waiting at the lawn in front of the house.
A few minutes after Arroyo’s arrival, the neighborhood appeared calm, with residents, even her next-door neighbors, seemingly still unaware that the controversial former president had arrived home.
Outside the residence, two ambulances, sport utility vehicles with some carrying “8” plates and a police car were lined up.
Superintendent Michael Macapagal, commander of the QCPD-Station 9, said the Police Security Protection Group was the one providing security to the former president inside the subdivision.
QCPD personnel were stationed outside the gates of La Vista.
