By JOSEPH HOLANDES UBALDE
Interaksyon.com
A PRIVATE prosecutor in the Maguindanao massacre case will oppose the move of Zaldy Ampatuan for a “hospital arrest.”
Harry Roque, legal counsel of the families of some of the media workers killed in the 2009 slaughter, tagged the prolonged stay of Ampatuan at the Philippine Heart Center as hospital arrest.
“We will oppose it,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Ampatuan’s lawyer Howard Calleja earlier submitted a manifestation before the court with a recommendation from his client’s attending physician for “confinement.”
PHC’s medical director Dr. Manuel Chua Chiaco said Ampatuan is being checked by Dr. Danny Kuizon (not Quizon as earlier reported).
Chiaco said they will “only confine him as long as necessary” despite the fact that the standing court order says Ampatuan is only an outpatient and should get out of the hospital after the battery of tests have been conducted.
He added that they will not consider a prolonged stay of Ampatuan in the hospital if he is deemed stable by his attending physician.
“If the patient doesn’t need to be confined then he needs to be released immediately because the other patients will need it ( hospital room),” Chiaco said.
Chiaco said the prolonged stay of Ampatuan is already a violation of the existing court order, which said that the prime suspect in the 2009 killings is an outpatient and should be out of the hospital once the battery of eight tests are already conducted.
Dr. Agnes Aglipay of the Bureau of Jail Managament and Penology, Ampatuan recommended eight tests for Ampatuqan, including 12-lead ECG, two-dimensional echocardiography, 24-hour Holter monitoring, carotid duplex scan, endothelial function test, and complete blood chemistry.
An angiogram, which last only 30 minutes, can be done at the PHC as early as 7 a.m. Thursday.
Ampatuan had earlier complained of shortness of breath and chronic back pain before his medical checkup.
Ampatuan arrived in a five-van convoy escorted by personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology at around 11 a.m. He had earlier sought to be admitted to St. Luke’s Medical Center at Bonifacio Global City but the hospital declined, calling him a security risk.
Ampatuan, one of those charged as principal for the mass murder of 58 persons, including 32 media workers, came out in television interviews aired early this week offering to testify against his father, Andal Sr., and brother, Andal Jr.
Soon after the interviews were aired, Ampatuan again offered to tell what he knew of the 2007 electoral fraud, which he blamed on then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband, Jose Miguel. He said the alleged cheating was intended to ensure that the opposition senatorial slate would not get a single vote in Maguindanao.
Roque said Ampatuan’s offer to be a whistleblower, both in the case filed over the massacre and the election fraud that happened in Maguindanao province in 2007, are “part and parcel of a well-orchestrated plan for his freedom.”