Convicted drug queen confined in Manila hospital for months–source

Convicted drug queen Yu Yuk Lai has been confined at Metropolitan Hospital in Binondo, Manila, for eight months now due to recurring headaches and other physical ailments, a source from the Bureau of Corrections (Bucor) said on Saturday.

Yu, whose penchant for playing around with the law caused the dismissal of a Court of Appeals justice and a regional trial court judge, was convicted in 2001 and sentenced to reclusion perpetua (20 years and one day to 40 years imprisonment) for delivering three kilos of “shabu” in exchange for P2-million worth of casino chips to a police undercover agent on Nov. 7, 1998.

The source said Yu had been at the hospital since December 2014. Yu is supposed to be at the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong after her conviction.

“Her physicians would always tell us that she needed to undergo further examinations,” the source said.

In July 16, 2000, Yu was rearrested by members of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) while playing baccarat without jail guards at the Holiday Inn Pavilion casino. At the time, she was supposed to be detained at the Manila City Jail after being arrested in a buy-bust operation in 1998.

Two months prior to her rearrest, she was allowed by Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Manuel Muro, who was dismissed by the Supreme Court a year later, to be confined at a hospital for medical and humanitarian reasons.

Yu was allowed hospital confinement not only for her recurring vertigo but also for toxic goiter and estrogen deficiency. She also needed to undergo several tests, including complete gynecological evaluation, endocrine evaluation, hormone replacement, pelvic ultrasound and blood chemistry.

Aside from Yu, the source said convicted road rage killer Rolito Go had also been confined at the same hospital since March 2013. Go is suffering from stage 4 colon cancer.