Court OKs Ampatuan Sr.'s medical check-up

MANILA, Philippines - A Quezon City court has allowed the medical examination of Andal Ampatuan Sr. by government doctors, after the murder suspect, who is among those tagged in the “Maguindanao massacre,” claimed to be having a pulmonary disease.

Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221, in an order dated June 1, directed the jail warden of the detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City to allow the examination to be done in the presence of a court staff and with prior notice to the court on the date when it will be done. Reyes said government doctors from the Philippine General Hospital will be the ones to examine Ampatuan Sr. These doctors will submit to the court their findings. Reyes also told the jail warden to “immediately submit a written report to the court as to what further actions and the details were taken, if any, in the interim, to avoid the exacerbation of accused-movant’s health condition.”

The prosecution will also be given a copy of the said written report.

Ampatuan Sr. had asked to be examined by a government doctor, citing high blood pressure and diabetes, among others. But before this was allowed, he had to be checked due to a health emergency, by Dr. Marilou Bongco of the UBHI-Parañaque Doctors Hospital. Bongco issued a certification that the clan patriarch is suffering from “chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.” Bongco’s findings and recommendations were adopted by Superintedent Claro Mundin, a physician of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

Because of this, Ampatuan Sr. manifested before the court his need to be “admitted in a tertiary hospital with complete medical facilities and that in the interim be kept in an air-conditioned room to avoid exacerbation (of his condition).”