Andal Sr. allowed checkup at PGH

MANILA, Philippines - The Quezon City judge handling the Maguindanao massacre trial has allowed former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. to undergo a medical checkup at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).

Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes granted the 74-year-old Ampatuan’s urgent motion after prosecutor Benjamin Samson interposed no objection to his request to be brought to a tertiary hospital.

Ampatuan – through his counsel, the Abbas law firm – asked the court to allow him to undergo an outpatient check-up with a cardiologist, nephrologist, pulmonologist and gastroenterologist.

The first suggested that their client be brought either to the PGH, Lung Center of the Philippines, Philippine Heart Center, or Veterans Memorial Medical Center.

It was Samson who asked that Ampatuan be brought to the PGH, as it was the nearest to his detention facility at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

The request for a checkup at a tertiary hospital was made following the recommendation of Dr. Joven Melchor Mendigo, who examined Ampatuan at the Taguig-Pateros District Hospital in Nov. 1.

In the earlier motion, Ampatuan’s lawyers claimed that he is suffering from chest and abdominal pains, in addition to apparent swelling in his body.

Ampatuan is among the primary accused in the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre, where 58 people – including 32 media practitioners – were killed.