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“Happy birthday to an exemplary leader, President Rodrigo Duterte. Thank you for your trailblazing leadership and service to the Filipino people. Thank you for the years of real friendship.” A message posted at the official Facebook page of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that day, as a caption to their photo together.
“I wish you fortitude and the best of health so you can continue instituting your programs for real change for our country. You have my unwavering support. God bless you and your family.” Arroyo added. She is now her hometown n Porac, Pampanga, practicing “Visita Iglesia,” a Catholic tradition in Holy Week, visiting seven churches.
Arroyo, 70, is known for being a good friend with President Duterte. More than a month after the May 2016 elections, the Supreme Court (SC) cleared her of plunder case via 11-4 votes. Eight of the 11 SC justices who voted for her were Arroyo appointees. Two days later, the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan issued her release order from the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), where she was under hospital arrest since 2012.
In November 2011, during the presidency of her successor, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was arrested in her hospital room at St. Luke's Medical Center at Taguig on charges of election fraud, related to her winning against the late actor, Fernando Poe, Jr. She was released from hospital arrest on bail on July 25, 2012.
In October 2012, Arroyo was arrested again after the Ombudsman filed a P366 million plunder case against her in connection with the alleged misuse of funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). But since her release, Arroyo has been given committee chairmanships in Congress, and later joined PDP-Laban, Duterte’s political party.
Contributed by Renato Pasayao
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