AMPATUAN TRIAL WATCH

A Quezon City court granted the request of Zaldy Ampatuan, one of the primary accused in the killing of 58 people including 32 media workers in Maguindanao in 2009, to be transferred to the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) from a public hospital in Taguig to which he was brought when he suffered an attack of “congestive heart failure.”

The order was signed June 26 by Judge Jocelyn Solis of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221.

On June 24, Ampatuan was brought and admitted to the Taguig-Pateros District Hospital (TPDH) due to “shortness of breath, dizziness, and increase in blood pressure.” The former ARMM governor filed a motion to allow his transfer because the PHC has more “complete equipment” and has his medical records. Ampatuan was previously allowed to be brought to the PHC on 18 November 2016. 

In a hearing on June 25, Ampatuan further asked the court that should the PHC deny him admission, he be allowed to be brought to St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig. The court denied Ampatuan’s alternative request and said that a detainee “should only seek medical confinement in a government hospital.”

Ampatuan has been previously allowed to leave detention. On 21 August 2018, he was permitted to attend his daughter’s wedding in Pasay City. A report from Rappler said that he was able to secure court approval to leave detention for three hours so he could celebrate the occasion with his family.

Zaldy Ampatuan,  his father the late Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his brother Andal Ampatuan Jr., is among principal accused in the Maguindanao massacre. The incident, which happened on 23 November 2009, was the bloodiest single attack on the press in the Philippines. As of press time, the trial was already on its ninth year. (See: Ampatuan Massacre Primer)