MANILA, Philippines -- Murder convict Jose Villarosa Wednesday said a recovery room adjacent to the Intensive Care Unit of the Makati Medical Center (MMC) was where he had been all along since he left the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) early last month.

Reached by the Philippine Daily Inquirer on the phone, Villarosa said he was recuperating from major lung surgery on Jan. 5. “I think the Inquirer missed out on its professionalism [when it reported Wednesday] that I am missing. I am here at the [MMC]. I had an operation, in which the doctors had to remove half of my left lung,” he said in a hoarse voice.

The former representative of Occidental Mindoro claimed that he was diagnosed with lung cancer in December 2006, when he was first allowed to leave the national penitentiary’s maximum-security compound in Muntinlupa City to seek medical treatment at the MMC.

But this was contrary to what then Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director Vicente Vinarao told the Inquirer at that time: That Villarosa had to be rushed to the MMC on the night of Dec. 24, 2006, because he suffered a heart attack and his legs were swollen due to diabetes.

Along with six farmers, Villarosa was convicted in 2006 of the 1997 murder of Paul and Michael Quintos, sons of his political rival, former Occidental Mindoro Gov. Ricardo Quintos. His appeal is pending before the Court of Appeals.

On Tuesday, NBP officials and inmates told the Inquirer that they had been missing Villarosa’s company for nearly a month now.

The ex-lawmaker was taken to the MMC, purportedly for treatment of pneumonia and high blood pressure, in the second week of December. Later in the month, Justice Undersecretary Fidel Exconde told the Inquirer that Villarosa had been allowed to move to St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City for further treatment.

Inquiries made on Tuesday to the admitting offices of the two hospitals showed that he was not among the patients.

PET scan

Calls and text messages by the Inquirer on Tuesday to the phone of Villarosa’s wife, Deputy Speaker Amelita Villarosa, were not returned. She said Wednesday that she was no longer using that phone number.

Villarosa said he left the MMC on Dec. 27 for a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan at St. Luke’s. He said he stayed at St. Luke’s for only three hours. His wife, a close ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said it was five, not three, hours.

“I [came] back here after the procedure,” Villarosa insisted, adding that he stayed at the MMC Intensive Care Unit on the fourth floor for five days, after which he was taken to a nearby room that he was now occupying.

Deputy Speaker Villarosa also told the Inquirer that her husband was afflicted with lung cancer and had been at the MMC since December.

“I don’t know how one can recover from lung cancer,” she said, adding that it was “unfair” that her husband would be reported missing from the NBP and the two hospitals when he had been at the MMC all along.

“We haven’t done anything that we should be treated this way,” she said, and asked that the newspaper acknowledge the mistake.

Told of the negative results of the Inquirer check on Villarosa’s presence at the MMC and St. Luke’s, she said she could not comment on this. But she continued to stress that her husband was staying at the MMC.

“He had lung surgery and is now in a recovery room,” the deputy speaker said. “He is under guard by the NBP. They have three shifts.”

She also said she had been advised by lawyer Estelito Mendoza to be careful in giving out details about her husband because of his pending appeal.

Bunye’s visit

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye sought to put the matter to rest by visiting the convict at the MMC.

Bunye set off with a cameraman and a photographer from a government station, as well as a copy of Wednesday’s issue of the Inquirer to serve as proof that the footage and still photos they would take of Villarosa were authentic.

“I think this story is done with,” Bunye told reporters outside the hospital after the 10-minute visit.

As he spoke with reporters, Bunye still had in his pocket a hospital mask that he was required to wear inside the patient’s room. His companions, including Deputy Speaker Villarosa, also had to wear masks.

“He’s recovering. No visitors are still allowed to see him,” Bunye said when asked how Villarosa was doing. He said he was not qualified to talk about the patient’s condition and asked that the family’s privacy be respected.

Villarosa is confined to a room near the cardiovascular ICU. Entry is strictly monitored by hospital staff, the Inquirer observed.

A staff member explained that the area was the intensive care unit for cardiovascular cases, where procedures like heart bypass operations were done.

Outside, about six men dressed in polo barong stood guard along with a few members of Villarosa’s staff. They occupied Room No. 415.

With permission

Bunye said he had sought the permission of the Villarosas and the MMC for the 4:20 p.m. visit, which he said was meant to establish the convict’s whereabouts and belie the report that the latter had gone missing.

Villarosa narrated the sequence of events from his confinement in December up to the present, Bunye said, adding that the patient said he had been in the MMC “since then.”

Asked if Villarosa had mentioned his five-hour stay at St. Luke’s, Bunye replied in the negative.

Hours before Bunye’s visit, Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo issued a statement asking the Philippine National Police and the BuCor to “verify speedily the location of prisoner Jose Villarosa.”

“And, if he is still out for valid medical reasons, to ensure that he is returned to the [NBP] as soon as his health will allow,” Saludo said.

“The Department of Justice should also investigate if there have been any lapses in custodial measures in the handling of the inmate,” he said.

No details

The MMC confirmed that Villarosa had stayed in the hospital since December but refused to provide details about his condition.

Dr. Eric Nubla, chief of the MMC patient relations office, replied “yes” when asked to confirm Deputy Speaker Villarosa’s statement that her husband had been confined at the MMC.

He also corroborated her statement that her husband was transferred, on his doctor’s request, to St. Luke’s for a procedure that lasted five hours.

“See, it came from the patient’s wife herself,” Nubla told the Inquirer. “Only the family and the NBP can give information about the patient.”

Told that the MMC admitting office said on Tuesday that Villarosa was not among the patients, Nubla said the hospital was not in a position to confirm or deny a patient’s presence.

He said the MMC was governed by international protocols on patient rights and observed such procedures strictly.

Citing patient-doctor confidentiality rules and the hospital’s own code of ethics, Nubla also said he was not authorized to give out details about Villarosa’s condition and directed all questions to the NBP.

With approval

Deputy Speaker Villarosa said her husband’s trip to St. Luke’s on Dec. 26 had the approval of the BuCor and the NBP.

“[He went to] St. Luke’s to validate [the MMC’s] findings,” she said. “I didn’t know he had [cancer]. He stopped smoking [more than] 20 years ago.”

She added that she and her family were hurt by the report on Villarosa’s being missing.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez also said Villarosa had been staying at the MMC since December, and that the Inquirer had been given false information.

Gonzalez said Villarosa’s wife had requested permission to take her husband to Singapore for treatment, but that he had disapproved the request.

“[Villarosa] has always been confined at Makati Med every time he gets sick, but he is allowed because the BuCor hospital is very, very inadequate,” Gonzalez said.

He said no court order was needed for Villarosa to be brought to a medical facility in case of an emergency, and that there was no deadline for the ex-lawmaker’s hospital stay. With reports from Leila B. Salaverria and Christine O. Avendaño