President Rodrigo R. Duterte has appointed former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as his adviser for projects at the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone in Pampanga province.
Ms. Arroyo, who also served as Speaker and Pampanga representative until her retirement last year, will be paid a peso yearly, presidential spokesman Harry L. Roque said in a statement on Thursday night.
He cited Ms. Arroyo’s “wisdom and her vast experience as a former head of state.”
As presidential adviser on Clark flagship programs and projects, she would help the government in planning and executing programs that seek to turn Clark as “the next premier metropolis of Asia,” the presidential palace said.
Ms. Arroyo served as Philippine president from 2001 to 2010. In 2011, she was held under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City for electoral sabotage.
She was later released on bail and the charges were dropped for insufficient evidence.
In 2012, Ms. Arroyo was accused of misusing state lottery funds worth more than P300 million. The court allowed her to go on a hospital arrest supposedly because of her poor health.
The Supreme Court under the administration of Mr. Duterte, a political ally, acquitted her in 2016. — Gillian M. Cortez
