Court allows Zaldy Ampatuan transfer to PHL Heart Center

A Quezon City court has allowed former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan, an accused in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre case, to be transferred to the Philippine Heart Center after being diagnosed with heart-related concerns.

Ampatuan had complained of shortness of breath, dizziness, and increase in blood pressure while in jail, which led to him being brought to the Taguig-Pateros District Hospital, where he was diagnosed with cardiovascular infarction, hypoglycemia secondary to oral hypoglycemia agents and congestive heart failure.

He had asked that he be transferred to the PHC for examination and recovery because he said this facility had "a complete set of equipment for tests" and "the records of his confinement in the past years."

The court granted his motion, but denied his alternative request to be brought to St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig City should he be denied admission at the PHC.

Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 also ordered the jail warden of Camp Bagong Diwa, where Ampatuan is jailed, to return the murder defendant to the detention facility after he completes medical examinations and confinement as recommended by his doctor.

Ampatuan's lawyers were also ordered to submit to the court the result of his medical examinations and/or medical abstract within 48 hours of receipt.

Last year, the court allowed Ampatuan to attend his daughter's wedding due to "humanitarian considerations."

Ampatuan is facing murder charges in connection with the November 23, 2009 massacre of 58 people, most of whom were journalists, who were on their way to cover the filing of the certificate of candidacy of Maguindanao Governor Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu.

Murder charges against the Ampatuan family remain pending in court more than nine years after what has been called the single deadliest attack on journalists. —NB, GMA News