FORMER President and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo on Sunday expressed her disappointment over the country’s flawed justice system, and said she hoped she would be the last victim of political injustice.
“Let me be the last victim of persecution during the justice system,” she told a television interview.
“A lot of injustice, to begin with the detention itself, was unjust. What I learned from that, is this whole thing of political power to persecute political enemies, that must stop.”
On July 19, the Supreme Court acquitted Arroyo of plunder over her alleged misuse of P366 million in confidential and intelligence funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office for lack of evidence.
In March 2015, Arroyo through international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, filed a case with a United Nations panel to complain about the human rights abuses she suffered under the Aquino administration.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that the government had violated Arroyo’s human rights for her detention under hospital arrest since October 2012.
“I must be the last victim, let me be the last victim. I’m not saying that political figures should be immune from prosecution. What I’m saying is that the process should be fair and even handed,” Arroyo said.
As a Catholic, Arroyo said she does not want to exact vengeance, and that she will face the next chapter of her life without bitterness.
She said she does not want to wish her enemies bad luck.
“I don’t wish what happened to me on my worst enemies,” she told the TV interview.
“You know, as I said earlier, I’m a devout Catholic, so any rancor I feel is not first hand. The rancor that I feel is precisely what I was saying earlier: the justice system, political persecution using the justice system that must stop.”