Murder suspect Zaldy brought out of Heart Center, back to jail

After failing to secure a court approval for an extended hospital stay, murder suspect Rizaldy "Zaldy" Ampatuan was brought out of the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) in Quezon City and back to his detention cell in Taguig City shortly before 1:00 p.m. Zaldy was taken out of the hospital by a convoy of two ambulances and four other mobiles from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. The vehicles exited the gate of the PHC facing Matalino street and drove towards East Avenue. Zaldy is one of the 197 suspects in the killing of 57 people, including 32 journalists, in Maguindanao in November 2009. A 58th victim, a photographer, is still missing. Chief Inspector Edgar Camus, jail warden at the Quezon City Jail Annex in Taguig City where the massacre suspects are detained, confirmed that Zaldy was indeed inside one of the vehicles that came out of the hospital. Before being pulled out from the hospital, members of the media and a number of spectators eagerly waited outside the gates amid an afternoon drizzle. [See related: Zaldy's confinement PHL Heart Center draws mixed reactions] There was moderate build up of traffic in the area around the PHC when the convoy drove out of the hospital. Zaldy's return to Taguig City came after Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Regional Trial Court Branch 221 did not come up with a ruling on Zaldy's latest request for an extension of confinement. Zaldy was seeking an extension of his hospital stay because his attending physician Dr. Danilo Kuizon said the patient had to stay for another six hours to recover from a puncture in his right groin. In a letter he addressed to the judge, Kuizon said Zaldy has to "stay in bed for six hours with a sand bag on his right groin to prevent bleeding from the puncture site." The angiogram performed on Zaldy showed that he was suffering from "insignificant" and "non-critical" coronary artery disease. - VVP, GMA News