Zaldy Ampatuan seeks continued hospitalization

MANILA, Philippines — Former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan has sought his continued hospitalization at the Makati Medical Center due to the possibility of another stroke.

Ampatuan is accused of masterminding the Maguindanao massacre, considered to be the Philippines’ worst case of election-related violence, which left 58 people, including 32 media practitioners, dead on Nov. 23, 2009.

Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes is set to issue a verdict on Dec. 19.

Lawyers Andre de Jesus and Jesus Joel Mari Argaza confirmed that their client suffered a stroke in October, which resulted in his confinement for over a month at the hospital.

In a six-page counter-manifestation and motion dated Nov. 27, Ampatuan’s lawyers opposed the prosecution’s request for their client to be brought back to his detention facility at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

Ampatuan’s lawyers said “the motion for his return to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology would be utterly prejudicial to his health and might pose a grave and irreparable threat to his fundamental right to life.”

De Jesus and Argaza also disputed the claim that Ampatuan is a flight risk, noting that his condition rendered it impossible to move from one place to another without difficulty.

They noted that their client had been allowed by the court to leave his detention facility for medical procedures and even to attend the graduation of his daughter last year.

The prosecution panel earlier asked the court for the immediate return of Ampatuan to his detention cell, saying that his confinement “may provide him all the opportunity for a convenient escape.”