Ailing political prisoner who couldn’t afford bail dies

A group is calling on the Supreme Court to speed up the promulgation of the writ of kalayaan to release ailing and elderly inmates after the death of a political prisoner who could not afford to post bail.

Named after the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who controlled the country during martial law, 55-year-old Marcos Villareal died at the Bicol Medical Center in Naga City on Dec. 3, according to Kapatid, a support group for political prisoners in the country.

Villareal is the first political prisoner who died while in detention under the administration of President Marcos Jr.

Prior to hospitalization, Villareal has been jailed at the Camarines Sur Provincial Jail and Penal Farm in Barangay Tinangis, Pili town, since August 2020 for the crime of murder.

Due to weak evidence, the court allowed him to post bail for P200,000. His family, however, has no means to pay up the bail bond.

READ: BuCor objects to proposed writ of kalayaan

READ: Justice Leonen pushes for approval of writ of kalayaan

Heartbreaking

“Heartbreaking, he was a step away from freedom,” Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim said.

“We heard about his case when the Kapatid coordinator in Camarines Sur messaged me a few days ago. They said a motion was being prepared for bail reduction when the jail brought him for emergency treatment at the Bicol Medical Center,” Lim added.

Villareal was a copra farmer and barangay tanod when he was jailed on what he claimed was a trumped-up charge of murder. He is survived by his wife and eight children.

“This is why we appeal to the Supreme Court to promulgate now the writ of kalayaan as an exigent legal remedy to address jail congestion and deteriorating prison conditions in the country,” Lim said.

“Don’t wait for more inmates to die. Have a heart especially for those too poor to pay for their bail,” she added.

The group also called on the Commission on Human Rights to look into the death of Villareal, citing the inhumane conditions in jail might have compromised his health further.

Already suffering from hypertension and lack of medical attention, the condition of Villareal quickly deteriorated in the provincial jail of Tinangis, which was the subject of news photos in 2016 for being so hot and crowded, with inmates almost stacked on top of each other.

According to a Kapatid Camarines Sur coordinator, Villareal already had swelling arms and legs, and his stomach was already bloated before he died. INQ