REPRESENTATIVE Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of Pampanga province on Wednesday asked the Sandiganbayan to allow her to spend the Yuletide season in her ancestral home in Lubao town.

In a seven-page motion, the former president sought for an 18-day Christmas furlough as she assured that her physical therapy sessions and all conditions will be covered and met if the anti-graft court grants her motion.

“In keeping with the spirit of goodwill during the Yuletide season, accused Arroyo pleads that the Sandiganbayan grant her leave from December 21 to January 7 to celebrate Christmas and New Year with her family and relatives,” she said in her motion.

She pointed out that the Sandiganbayan earlier approved the request of former President Joseph Estrada to spend Christmas in San Juan City when the former leader was also facing plunder at the anti-graft court.

She said that the physical therapy sessions that she had to undertake—which was the basis of the Sandiganbayan     in allowing her to be placed under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC)—will be taken cared of.

She added that the VMMC might not be able to attend to her therapy as only skeletal force would man the hospital and no therapists might be on duty from December 20 to January 6.

She said that if the court grants her request, she will arrange for physical therapists to be stationed at the Romana Pangan District Hospital in Floridablanca, Pampanga or at the Diosdado Macapagal Provincial Hospital in Guagua town.

The therapists will be oriented and briefed by the VMMC’s physical therapy unit as to the type of therapy prescribed for Arroyo, the defense said.

Her doctors likewise said that Arroyo should avoid multiple travels which is “why Arroyo asks that she be allowed to remain in Lubao for the duration of the Yuletide.”

All clusters of the Philippine National Police—from the Police Security and Protection Group, the Highway Patrol Group, the Logistics Support Service, the Health Service, the National Capital Regional Police Office to the Police Regional Office of Central Luzon—already expressed willingness to provide escort and security in Arroyo’s travel to and from Lubao.

Arroyo and her lawyers said that if granted, the former leader will abide by the rules that the Sandiganbayan will enforce.

She is also willing to pay for expenses of the police and to cover their gasoline, food, communication and other expenses.