2 elderly political prisoners currently hospitalized
Relatives of political detainees gather at the Mendiola Bridge for the first day of their hunger strike as they call on President Rodrigo Duterte to keep his promise of releasing political prisoners. KJ Rosales, File
MANILA, Philippines — Two ailing, elderly political prisoners are currently in hospitals, according to human rights group Karapatan.
Apolonio Barado, 62, was admitted to the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) hospital in Muntinlupa City last Sunday due to chest pains.
Barado, who previously suffered a heart attack, has coronary artery diseases, hypertensive cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus.
He is set to be transferred to the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City due to the lack of equipment at the NBP hospital to keep up with his condition.
On Aug. 9, 2001, Barado was arrested after being wrongly convicted for trumped up charges of multiple murder and frustrated murder, Karapatan said.
"Barado’s situation has alarmed rights groups, especially after the death of political prisoner Bernabe Ocasla, detained at the Manila City Jail, on November 28, when he suffered his third cardiac arrest and died at the Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital in Manila," Karapatan said.
Meanwhile, Amelia "Amy" Pond, 64, is currently recuperating at the Southern Philippines Medical Hospital after undergoing an operation on her lumbar spine last November 11.
Pond, a volunteer teacher and researcher, was the coordinator for the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines in the Southern Mindanao Region when she was arrested last August 19 and charged with trumped-up cases of murder and frustrated murder.
"Perhaps the Duterte government would recognize that I am elderly with poor health and that I am just a simple educator. What happened to me is a big disregard to the efforts to alleviate the conditions of one of the poorest, backward and oppressed sectors among the Filipinos, which are the Lumad," Pond said in a statement.
Barado and Pond are among the 130 sickly political prisoners recommended for immediate release on humanitarian grounds, according to Karapatan.
RELATED: Government sincerity on plan to release political prisoners questioned
Karapatan stressed that the release of political prisoners is a priority agenda in the peace negotiations between the Government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
Chief government peace negotiator and Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III earlier said that at least 70 old and ailing political prisoners would be freed by the end of November.
Bello added that the release of political detainees shows the sincerity of President Rodrigo Duterte to pursue the peace negotiations. — Patricia Lourdes Viray
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