LUBAO, Pampanga --- Former president Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo has asked the Supreme Court to allow her to vote on May
9.
In a petition, a copy
of which was furnished to the Sandiganbayan yesterday, Arroyo asked that she be
allowed to leave the Veterans Memorial Medical Center and travel to Lubao where
she is a registered voter.
Arroyo, who is seeking
reelection as representative of the second district of Pampanga, said the law
does not disqualify a prisoner from voting during elections.
“The Commission on
Elections recognizes the rights of prisoners to vote,” she said in a motion
filed by her lawyers.
The former president’s
camp said allowing her to vote is consistent with the constitutional
presumption of innocence, noting only persons convicted by a final judgment are
barred from voting.
Arroyo has been under
“hospital arrest” due to a plunder case filed against her two years ago.
The case stemmed from
her alleged misuse of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office funds.
She has asked
the high court to junk the case after the Sandiganbayan denied her motion to
dismiss it.
Arroyo has also asked
the high court to place her under house arrest, citing her doctors’ statement
that her continued hospital confinement has not improved her condition.
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