Trader placed under hospital arrest

MANILA, Philippines — The businessman caught in the viral video beating up Makati traffic enforcers has been placed under hospital arrest.

Police said Arnold Padilla was taken to the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig on Friday after his blood pressure reportedly shot up following his arrest for alleged possession of illegal firearms, explosives and ammunition.

Padilla is being guarded around-the-clock by police officers, according to National Capital Region Police Office (NCPRO) chief Director Guillermo Eleazar.

“We have three uniformed policemen guarding his room. A Special Weapons and Tactics team was deployed on the ground floor of the hospital to prevent him from escaping,” Eleazar said in an interview.

He said he allowed Padilla’s continued hospital detention after Superintendent Luis Bautista, chief of the NCRPO Regional Health Office, confirmed that the businessman has a health problem.

Police said Padilla would be brought back to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig once his condition normalizes.

Reports reaching Eleazar said Padilla was scheduled to undergo angiogram procedure so he could not be discharged from the hospital today. 

The suspect was rushed to the hospital hours after police arrested him and his bodyguard, Alfie Ortiz, for alleged illegal possession of a .45-caliber pistol, a 12-gauge shotgun and two hand grenades.

Reports said Padilla’s blood pressure shot up to 240/160 while he was being interrogated at the Regional Special Operations Unit of the NCRPO.

Padilla waived the preliminary investigation on the charges filed against him, enabling him to remain under hospital arrest.

But after 16 days, the city prosecutor’s office will decide if there is probable cause in charges against Padilla and Ortiz.

Eleazar denied accusations that the two grenades recovered at Padilla’s house in Magallanes Village in Makati during the raid were planted by the police.

“Barangay officials and members of the media accompanied us during the raid and took video footage. It is not in our book to plant evidence during police operations,” he said.

In a television interview, Padilla said he believes his arrest stemmed from his quarrel with barangay officials. He did not elaborate.

Padilla’s lawyer Raymond Fortun said there was irregularity in the implementation of the search warrant by policemen during the raid on his client’s residence.

Fortun said he would raise the issue before the court.

Padilla, his partner and bodyguards hit the headlines earlier this month after they were caught on closed-circuit television footage verbally and physically abusing the traffic enforcers who pulled them over for beating the red light at the corner of Magallanes Village and EDSA.