QC court allows Andal Sr. to be examined

A Quezon City court has allowed a doctor to examine Maguindanao massacre suspect and former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., who has been complaining about his aching leg and foot. In Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes' order — a copy of which was given to GMA News Online by Andal Sr's lawyer Sigfrid Fortun — a physician from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology was ordered to conduct a checkup on the clan patriarch and submit a report to the court. "Acting on the urgent motion filed by accused Andal Ampatuan Sr., through counsel, the officer-in-charge of Quezon City Jail Annex (in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City) is hereby directed to immediately refer the former (Andal Sr.) for medical consultation with the BJMP physician who is directed to furnish this court the result thereof within 24 hours from its termination," the judge said in her order. Aside from being checked by a BJMP physician, Andal Sr. also had requested that a full medical examination at a tertiary government hospital be subsequently conducted on him. But in her order, Solis-Reyes said she would only decide on the request for a full medical examination after reviewing the medical report that the BJMP physician would furnish the court. Andal Sr., through his counsel, earlier asked Solis-Reyes if he could seek medical attention for his swollen leg which he believed was caused by his prostate ailment. Fortun welcomed Solis-Reyes' order. "Our request was part of the procedure in the first place. Everything has to go through the court," he said. The Ampatuan clan patriarch's other lawyer, Gregorio Narvasa II, said they really wanted their physicians to examine the former Maguindanao governor but added that having a government doctor, such as that from the BJMP, is really part of the procedure. Andal Sr., along with more than 190 others, is facing 57 counts of murder in connection with the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao. Andal Sr. was placed under house arrest in late November 2009 and was later transferred to the Quezon City Jail Annex in Taguig City. He has previously been confined at a military hospital in Quezon City to treat him of herpes zoster, also known as shingles, which is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. — RSJ, GMA News