COTABATO CITY?Detained Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is seriously considering replacing his lawyer, Sigfrid Fortun, with a lawyer who is also a doctor so he could be defended and treated for his health problems at the same time.

Dr. Redemptor Tejada of the Maguindanao Provincial Hospital (MPH) said Ampatuan was a diabetic and hypertensive and had sought medical treatment at the Makati Medical Center.

Tejada said he would regularly check Ampatuan?s blood sugar and blood pressure, along with a resident physician of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in General Santos City where Ampatuan and three of his brothers are detained on rebellion charges.

Tejada said some government health officials had warned him that ministering to the Ampatuans might get him into trouble since General Santos City was ?outside his [service] jurisdiction.?

Dr. Tahir Sulaik, MPH head, was confined at the Philippine Heart Center and could not attend to his former superiors, local health officials said.

A source in the Ampatuan camp, who was not authorized to speak to media, requested anonymity because he said Ampatuan might engage the services of lawyer-physician Sonny Davila, who is based in Manila.

Earlier, Fortun opposed the Feb. 4 hearing held by Judge Vivencio Baclig of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 77 and the proposed transfer of the Ampatuans to a regular jail, saying that they had not undergone preliminary investigation in the rebellion case.

?This is like putting the cart ahead of the horse,? Fortun had said.

Tejada said Ampatuan needed to lose weight and lower his blood sugar level. He noted that Ampatuan would become pale under stress and said that his health should be closely monitored.

Dr. Benjamin Benitez, a gastroenterologist at Makati Medical Center, said Ampatuan was diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension, a fatty liver and obesity on Jan. 7, 2007.

Meanwhile, government forces found assorted explosives in an abandoned house outside the mansion of detained former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., the clan patriarch, in Shariff Aguak on Monday.

Senior Supt. Alex Lineses, Maguindanao police director, said military intelligence reports led elements of the Army?s 6th Infantry Division under Lt. Gen. Anthony Alcantara to uncover a cache of mostly 81mm and 60mm mortar shells. With a report from Charlie C. Señase, Inquirer Mindanao