Jail warden: Zaldy Ampatuan 'isolated' from detained relatives

Massacre suspect and suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Rizaldy "Zaldy" Ampatuan has been "isolated" from his detained relatives in Taguig City amid reports of worsening relationship among them. Warden Senior Inspector Edgar Camus of the Quezon City Jail Annex said Zaldy was taken out of Cell No. 1, where the other Ampatuan clan members linked to the Nov. 2009 Maguindanao massacre are currently detained, after receiving "intelligence reports" that he was not having a "good rapport" with his relatives in their detention cell. In a letter sent to Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Regional Trial Court Branch 221 in Quezon City on May 30, Camus informed her that he had instead ordered the transfer of Zaldy to Cell No. 6 of the jail facility inside Camp Bagong Diwa. "In order to avoid untoward incident, Datu Zaldy was isolated as quarrel started to arise between the latter and other accused as well as their wives and other visitors," said Camus in his letter. Relatives and legal counsels of the accused are allowed to pay visits from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. during Tuesdays to Fridays, and from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. during weekends. No visits are allowed on Mondays. Judge Solis-Reyes received a copy of the letter on June 1 and read it out before the prosecution and defense panels during the June 1 proceedings, the same day clan patriarch and fellow accused Andal Sr entered his not guilty plea. Lawyer Howard Calleja, Zaldy's legal counsel in the multiple murder case, has yet to respond to GMA News Online's request to confirm the report about his client's "isolation." Earlier reports claimed that Zaldy and the clan patriarch had a spat and have not being speaking with each other for over a month. Apart from Zaldy and Andal Sr, other members of the powerful Maguindanao clan currently detained at the QC Jail Annex are: prime suspect Andal Sr and his brother Sajid, as well as Akmad "Tato" Ampatuan Sr and Anwar Ampatuan Sr. So far, only Andal Sr and Andal Jr have been arraigned because the other accused clan members each has pending motions before the court. Zaldy, for instance, has a pending petition before the Court of Appeals to reinvestigate the case and remove his name from the charge sheet. Zaldy's transfer came on the heels of claims by Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, who lost his wife and two sisters in what is considered the worst election-related violence in Philippine history, that Andal Sr was receiving "special treatment" while in detention. The governor – who became rivals with the Ampatuans after challenging supposed gubernatorial bet Andal Jr in the May 2010 elections — showed photographs showing the clan patriarch's being able to go out of his detention cell and receiving more visitors than what is allowed. Bureau of Jail Management and Penology director Rosendo Dial and Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno, who were tasked to investigate the VIP treatment claims, have been insisting that the detained Ampatuans are being treated the same way other inmates in the facility are being treated. — LBG, GMA News