De Lima Not Fascinated with Clooney

Justice Secretary is not pleased with international human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin-Clooney, wife of the erstwhile Oceans’11 actor George Clooney, over her pleadings to the United Nations asking the Philippine government to release former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on humanitarian grounds.

De Lima reportedly described the case against the Philippine government as “a flamboyant gesture that reflects the paucity of Arroyo’s cries of political persecution.”

Lawyer Clooney has filed the case before the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights last month, alleging inhuman treatment of Arroyo by the Philippine government. The government has yet to receive notice of the complaint.

De Lima believes Clooney’s allegations were based on wrong premises saying Clooney could be barking up the wrong tree when she filed the case against the executive department as the cases against the former president are pending within Philippine courts.

De Lima reportedly told Clooney that Arroyo’s detention is based on an order of the Sandiganbayan, which is handling the plunder charges against the former president in connection with the alleged misuse of P366 million ($8.2 million) funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) during her term.

She said Clooney, who reportedly volunteered to lawyer for Arroyo, could be barking up the wrong tree when she filed the case against the executive department as the cases against the former president are pending with the courts.

The justice chief told Clooney that Arroyo’s detention is based on an order of the Sandiganbayan, which is handling the plunder charges against the former president in connection with the alleged misuse of P366 million ($8.2 million) funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) during her term.

“Under international human rights standards, a commitment or detention order issued against an accused in accordance with a state’s independent judicial processes is recognized as a valid cause for restraining one’s liberty. There is no question that under no circumstances is Rep. Arroyo’s detention for the non-bailable crime of plunder violative of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” De Lima said.

De Lima added that the judiciary remains independent of the executive, and it will continues to decide cases not on the basis of politics, but on the legal merits of each case.

“There is no question that under no circumstances is Rep. Arroyo’s detention for the non-bailable crime of plunder violative of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” she said.

De Lima, a former chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, has reminded Clooney that the former president must first exhaust all available domestic remedies – including filing a petition before the Supreme Court – before she could file a complaint with the UN.