The Buzz | Ex-Philippine leader Arroyo freed from years of detention

Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was freed yesterday from years of hospital detention after the Supreme Court cleared her of a plunder charge in what anti-corruption advocates called “a sad day” for justice.
The 69-year-old Arroyo was whisked off a military veterans’ hospital in suburban Quezon city and driven to her home in the upscale La Vista residential enclave in the Manila metropolis, her lawyer, Lawrence Arroyo, said.
She did not appear before throngs of journalists who have waited for her release. Back at home, Arroyo had dinner with some of her children and grandchildren and expressed eagerness to return to the House of Representatives, to which she was re-elected in May despite her detention. She planned to attend President Rodrigo Duterte’s state of the nation address on Monday, lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, an Arroyo supporter, said.