The joint panel of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday asked a Pasay City court to move former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to a detention facility while the electoral sabotage case is pending.

But the defense, through lawyer Jose Flaminiano, said that there was no need to move Mrs. Arroyo to a detention facility. Mrs. Arroyo's camp asked that the former Philippine leader instead be placed under house arrest.

The Pasay RTC branch 112, through Judge Jesus Mupas, has yet to rule on the motions. He said the court will resume its hearing on the electoral sabotage case against Mrs. Arroyo next Tuesday.

The DOJ-Comelec panel motion came after the defense earlier withdrew their request for a hospital arrest and instead, moved for a house arrest.

Veneracion said their move followed the admission in court by one of Mrs. Arroyo's attending physicians, Dr. Mario Ver, that the former President is "fit to be treated as an out-patient."

Ver was likewise quoted as saying that the former Philippine leader is already undergoing "conservative treatment" for her backache. "We moved that she be transferred to a detention facility," Comelec lawyer Maria Juana Valleza told Agence France-Presse after the hearing.

She said a special private room at a police station had already been prepared. "She [Mrs. Arroyo] will be staying there in a room without the company of other prisoners. The size is quite adequate for her personal and medical needs," Valleza said.

"We have no control over her house and we cannot monitor her constantly. The house is not under jurisdiction of the courts," the Comelec lawyer said.

Aquino thanks docs

President Benigno Aquino III on Friday thanked the doctors of Mrs. Arroyo for telling the true medical condition of his predecessor.

"Nagpapasalamat tayo kung nasabi ng doctor 'yan. Pasasalamat tayo. E, di totoo sila dun sa kanilang pangako na magsabi ng katotohanan," Aquino said at a press briefing during the First National Media Conference on Climate Change in Legaspi, Albay.

"Prudence dictates that I should not comment on the matter... may term na sub judice. I might be construed as trying to influence the decision of the court," he said.

The President added that the courts "are the ones empowered to decide where to incarcerate people that were ordered arrested."

Acceptance sets in

A spokesman of Mrs. Arroyo said the former leader has "accepted" her fate a week after being placed under hospital arrest for electoral sabotage.

Atty. Raul Lambino said Arroyo realizes she is under arrest and that she has to face the charges against her.

"She is facing the charges now. She had been charged for several cases before she was placed on the Justice Department's watch list order. There is nothing else she can do but face these charges," Lambino said.

He said the visits by friends, allies and even officials of religious groups had helped her "accept" her fate. "Malaking bagay ang tulong ng mga kaibigan sa kanya upang matanggap niya ang katotohanan na siya ay arestado at kailangan humarap [sa mga kaso laban sa kanya]," Lambino said.

A separate report by dzBB radio's Rodil Vega Friday morning quoted Lambino as saying they were heartened to see Arroyo's appetite return.

What went before

Last week, the Southern Police District served a warrant of arrest on Arroyo at the St. Luke's Medical Center (SLMC) in Taguig City for electoral sabotage.

Mrs. Arroyo has been staying at St. Luke's since Nov. 15, after Immigration officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) barred her from leaving the country to seek medical treatment abroad for her bone problem.

Mrs. Arroyo's camp submitted to the court on Wednesday a motion for hospital arrest, along with copies of her medical certificates and other documents providing details on the series of surgeries she underwent months ago to cure a pinched nerve on her spine, scientifically known as multilevel cervical spondylosis.

On Nov. 22, the trial court allowed Mrs. Arroyo to be placed under temporary hospital arrest. Over the past weeks, Mrs. Arroyo's camp insisted that she was suffering from life-threatening condition and should be allowed to seek medical treatment abroad.

But Aquino responded by announcing that Mrs. Arroyo could just fly in medical experts from other countries to treat her here in the Philippines.