Lawyer laments double standard with Padaca, Arroyo

The camp of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Sunday lamented what it called the double standard treatment being shown by the Aquino administration towards the former leader and its allies. Arroyo’s spokesman, defeated senatorial bet Atty. Raul Lambino, cited the case of new elections commissioner Gracia Cielo Padaca, who was charged with graft but given help in posting bail last week. “Diyan natin makikita ang double standard of justice. Kung kaalyado ka, abswelto ka agad. Kung kalaban ka kulong agad," Lambino said in an interview on dzBB radio. He said both Arroyo and Padaca face charges related to graft, yet are treated differently. Last week, Padaca posted a P70,000 bail before the Sandiganbayan for a graft charge. Malacañang said the funds were drawn from the pocket of President Benigno Aquino III himself. Accompanying her to the Sandiganbayan was interior secretary Manuel Roxas II, who is president-on-leave of the ruling Liberal Party. Padaca is a member of the LP. On the other hand, Arroyo was placed under arrest while she was at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City Thursday, a day after the graft court issued a warrant for her arrest. The former leader faces plunder charges for alleged irregularities at the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. Plunder is a non-bailable offense. But doctors at the VMMC said Arroyo is not physically fit to be transferred, should the graft court order her transfer to a regular detention cell. Arroyo had been out on bail since late July for electoral sabotage case before she was arrested again. Lambino branded as propaganda Padaca’s claim that she did not have money to post bail. “Saan ang ipapatupad na anti-corruption program? Palagay ko hindi matuwid ang daan na ganoon (Where is this government’s so-called anti-corruption program? I don’t think this is treading the straight path),” he said. Padaca's independence at Comelec? Meanwhile on Saturday, Malacañang insisted it believes Padaca will be independent as a Comelec Commissioner, and urged the public to give her a chance to prove her worth. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte dismissed as mere speculation the concerns that Padaca may favor candidates who are with the administration’s LP. “Again let’s give Commissioner Padaca the chance to prove herself. Huwag natin pangunahan. Ang speculation na baka ganito ang mangyari, puro baka, maraming nagkakamali sa baka," Valte said on government-run dzRB radio. She also noted Padaca had already said she was willing to resign from the LP amid reports that her relative is running for an elective post in 2013. Earlier, the United Nationalist Alliance said Padaca may have failed her first test of independence by allowing Secretary Roxas to accompany her to the Sandiganbayan to post a bail. Padaca also appeared to show political partisanship when she was quoted as saying, “If you’re with Secretary Mar and President Aquino, how will you go wrong?” But Valte dismissed this, saying "Padaca has not given us any cause to think she will not be independent. Again let’s give Commissioner Padaca a chance.” — LBG, GMA News