Zaldy Ampatuan seeks hospital confinement

(Updated 5:50 p.m.) Lawyers of murder suspect Zaldy Ampatuan on Wednesday said they asked the Quezon City court handling the Maguindanao massacre case to allow their client to be confined at the Philippine Heart Center based on doctors' recommendations. Lawyer Howard Calleja said they have already filed a manifestation before the sala of Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221. He said the doctors who examined Zaldy recommended his confinement but did not say for how long. "We made a manifestation to inform the court of his condition in hospital. Ginagawa namin ito para maipakita na wala tayong tinatago," Calleja said. Asked what they would do in case Solis-Reyes fails to act on their manifestation before the day ends, Calleja said: "Kung ikaw ay pasyente, you will only wait for orders of doctors. What's important is the health of the governor." Calleja said the doctor's recommendations were based on findings on the initial set of medical exams conducted on Zaldy, who was suspended as governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao following the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre that left 57 people dead.
In a recommendation prepared by Chief Inspector Agnes Aglipay, chief of the infirmary at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology-National Capital Region, Zaldy was advised to undergo the following tests: • 12-lead ECG, two-dimensional echocardiography; • 24-hour Holter monitoring, carotid duplex scan; • peripheral arterial and venous duplex scan; • endothelial function test; • complete blood chemistry which includes high sensitivity C-reactive protein and myocardial perfusion imaging. Zaldy was brought to the PHC after Solis-Reyes approved his request to be brought to the government hospital after a private hospital refused him. He is currently staying at the Coronary Care Unit of the PHC. "Everything is possible at this point in time," Calleja said. The lawyer added they hospital would be coming up with a medical bulletin "between 7 and 7:30 p.m." Private prosecutor Harry Roque, meanwhile, opposed Zaldy’s confinement, saying it would be tantamount to putting the murder suspect on “hospital arrest." Lawyer Harry Roque, legal counsel for families of the 15 journalists killed in the carnage, also expressed disapproval over Zaldy's camp's attempt to get a court approval for his confinement at the medical facility. "It's like a hospital arrest. We will oppose that," Roque told reporters Wednesday. But for Chief Inspector Edgard Camus, the warden in charge of Zaldy, it would be better for the suspended ARMM governor to be confined at the PHC. Interviewed by GMA News Online, Camus, warden of the Quezon City Jail Annex in Taguig City, said it would be more problematic if Zaldy would be treated as an outpatient. "Kapag ginawa iyon, lalong tatagal kasi magiging pabalik-balik tayo sa hospital niyan," he said. He added that it would be best to confine Zaldy given that he would be undergoing a battery of at least 14 types of medical exams for his coronary heart problem and diabetes. Camus also said doctors have informed him and his men to be on the alert in case Zaldy ends up being confined at the medical facility. "Ready naman kami dito magbantay ng 24/7," Camus said, but refused to say how many jail personnel he deployed in and around the PHC to secure Zaldy.— KBK, GMA News