The very important deportee in the P728-million fertilizer scam is staying in a tightly guarded room at St. Luke?s Medical Center in Quezon City. And as of Wednesday night, no medical bulletin on his condition had been issued since he was admitted late Tuesday night.

Jocelyn ?Joc-joc? Bolante is staying in Suite 2016 at Annex 2 of the building?s south wing. His wife and son are accompanying him, two members of the Office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Wednesday.

The Inquirer observed at least eight barong-clad men with hand-held radios positioned in the vicinity of Bolante?s room.

Members of the Philippine National Police Security Office and hospital security personnel are said to be part of the group guarding the former agriculture undersecretary.

Dr. Romeo Saavedra?a known cardiologist who was on the team that performed heart surgery on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s husband in April 2007?is Bolante?s attending physician.

Bill records show that the procedures and tests were administered in his suite.

According to a printout shown to certain reporters, Bolante?s accumulated bill as of 11 a.m. Wednesday was P55,097.40 after a promo discount. (Before the discount, the bill was P68,872, not including professional fees.)

The highest charge was P17,015 for a carotid and TCD test, and the lowest was P30 for an alcohol swab. The bill printout showed that Bolante had taken a 50-mg Benadryl capsule and was administered ECG and chest tests also in his suite.

?BP check only?

Jaime Dimacali, the Senate?s director for security enforcement, refused to give reporters details of Bolante?s condition beyond saying that he had received no treatment aside from ?the usual blood pressure check.?

Asked if Bolante was in an emergency condition, Dimacali said: ?I don?t know. I?m not a doctor.?

Dimacali said it was Bolante?s lawyer, Antonio Zulueta, who requested that his client be taken to St. Luke?s. Bolante reportedly complained of chest pains during the flight to Manila.

Speculations on Bolante?s real condition arose when it became apparent that he was to be taken to St. Luke?s.

Bolante?s plane landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) at 10:32 p.m. Tuesday. He deplaned in a wheelchair about 20 minutes later and got into an ambulance at about 11:15 p.m.

It took some 30 minutes for the ambulance?owned by Manila International Airport Authority, escorted by four vehicles carrying Senate security agents and tailed by a convoy of media vehicles?to take him to St. Luke?s.

A reporter observed that ?if it was really an emergency condition,? Bolante should have been rushed to the Villamor hospital or any other medical facility near the airport.

?And why was he taken to a suite, not to the emergency room?? another reporter asked.

But lawyer Harry Roque, who had made it a mission to update the Filipino public on the progress of Bolante?s protracted battle to seek asylum in the United States, saw nothing wrong in the man?s hospital confinement.

Patient?s prerogative

Roque said, however, that Bolante should be detained at the Senate once his attending doctor gave him clearance.

?I think it?s obvious that he?s under the custody of the Senate. Allowing him to undergo a medical examination is a humanitarian thing to do,? Roque said on the phone.

Marilen Lagniton, the hospital?s vice president for corporate affairs, told reporters that the decision to issue a medical bulletin lay solely with the patient.

?The hospital will not give information about the patient?s condition without expressed permission of the patient to respect the person?s privacy,? Lagniton said.

The discounted cost of the room where Bolante is staying is P9,000 a day, according to a member of the hospital staff who requested anonymity for lack of authority to speak with reporters.

?The room, which also has Internet access, normally costs P11,250 a day,? the source said.

Lagniton denied that Bolante?s stay had been arranged earlier, and that his room had been reserved even before his plane landed at the NAIA.

?There was no prior arrangement,? she said.

But according to some hospital patients? kin, the line at the admission office is long and getting a private room takes time.

?My sister reserved two days in advance but still had to wait three hours on the day she was scheduled to be admitted before a room on the same floor where Bolante is staying could be available,? Myrna Inocencio told the Inquirer.

A woman said her husband had come for a checkup and was recommended for hospitalization by his doctor.

?We had to stay in a semi-private room for a night before we could transfer to a private room,? she said.

Former Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., who arrived at the hospital for his scheduled annual checkup, said Bolante should tell the truth about the fertilizer fund scam.

?Maybe his two-year incarceration may enlighten his mind to speak the truth,? said Magsaysay, who led the Senate inquiry into the scam.

Shadow of himself

The man who once walked among the powerful stepped out of his plane on his own, unassisted by his American escorts and alone on a homecoming that he fought for two years in a US jail.

He was dressed in gray pants, a white shirt and a jacket. In a statement released to the media even before he arrived, he promised ?to face the issues and all malicious accusations? at the proper forum.

?He?s small and very thin. It seems like he is half [of his build before], like he is just a shadow of what he used to be. I think he?s sick, or not eating a lot. I think he?s malnourished,? said Ricardo Diaz, chief of staff of Ruel Lasala, the National Bureau of Investigation?s deputy director for intelligence, who was among the first to meet Bolante on Tuesday night.

Almost unrecognizable under salt-and-pepper hair, Bolante almost got past the Philippine receiving team that awaited him at the tube of Gate 10.

?We did not see him immediately because we expected that he had two American escorts,? Diaz told reporters shortly after Bolante was whisked off to St. Luke?s. ?But they just let him out of the plane; they no longer escorted him. I was unable to identify him immediately, but someone did, and I introduced myself as [part of] the receiving party.?

Upon spotting Bolante, Diaz, his deputy Ruel Lasala, and Bureau of Immigration regulations chief Gary Mendoza decided to first let the other passengers out of the plane before taking the deportee to the NAIA immigration office for ?processing.?

?Stop worrying?

Bolante was not cuffed and had a small bag in hand, Diaz said, adding:

?He looks different from what?s being shown in TV footage ... He looks thin and wan, and he can?t even stand up. We had to get a wheelchair and he was brought to the immigration office.?

An airport employee who saw Bolante emerge from the tube overheard him telling someone on the phone: ?Wag ka nang mag-alala. Mga kaibigan ko ang kasama ko (Stop worrying. I?m with my friends).?

Per Diaz?s account, Bolante was ?processed??fingerprinted and photographed and his travel documents checked?for around 10 minutes at the immigration office.

Upon taking a seat to comply with the procedure, Bolante then had a drink of water. NAIA video showed him patting his chest and breathing deeply, a pained expression on his face.

Representatives of the Senate sergeant at arms were already present at that point.

Taking the regular route through the terminal, Bolante was then wheeled past the baggage claim and customs areas to the arrival lobby packed with members of the media.

As soon as Bolante and his lawyer Zulueta got to the lobby, security men in gray barong surrounded the deportee, along with airport police and security guards.

Dimacali, the head of the Senate arresting team, then served Bolante the arrest warrant that the chamber issued in December 2005?and validated recently by Senate President Manuel Villar?for ignoring its summons to an inquiry into the fertilizer fund scam.

Violent struggle

Bolante?s ring of security was unable to push away photographers and cameramen who jostled to take the best shots as he sat almost motionless on the wheelchair.

The usually brief steps to the exit turned into a violent struggle for Bolante and the Senate arresting team.

The episode infuriated Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Alfonso Cusi, who was quoted by observers as saying that he was ?disgusted? by how the media breached the arrangements for an orderly coverage.

The man in the eye of the storm was eventually carried into the ambulance at 11:15 p.m.

As though it were carrying royalty, the ambulance had four motorcycle escorts up front to clear the way and four security vehicles at the rear. With reports from Michael Lim Ubac and Jerome Aning