Massacre suspect allowed follow-up checkup for festering wound

MANILA, Philippines—A Quezon City court on Friday allowed a policeman indicted in the Maguindanao massacre case to be brought back to a government hospital for a follow-up consultation for a wound on his left foot that won’t heal.

In a one-page order, Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Regional Trial Court Branch 221 granted SPO1 Elizer Rendaje’s plea to undergo another check-up at the Philippine National Police General Hospital.

The court ordered the policeman, who is among 196 accused in the massacre trial, to be brought to the PNP-GH’s out-patient surgery department in Camp Crame.

Rendaje is reportedly suffering from diabetes and has a wound on his left heel that has not yet healed.

The court immediately granted the motion for a follow-up checkup after the prosecution did not file any comment or opposition.

Rendaje, through lawyer Laguindab Marohombsar, appealed for another medical consultation, claiming his condition worsened since his last check-up at the government hospital.

In a July 18, 2011 letter, Chief Insp. Agnes Aglipay of the Bureau of Jail and Management Penology’s health service unit said the cop was brought to the PNP-GH on June 10 but his doctor was not around.

Aglipay examined the policeman on July 1, 14 and 16, 2011 because of a non-healing wound with pus and foul odor. Rendaje also complained of fever and difficulty in walking.

The BJMP official said the accused was suffering from a wound on his left heel which, upon examination, showed swelling around the wound.

Court staff said Rendaje was reportedly taking insulin for his diabetes but was unable to sustain it.

“It [appears] that there is a need for the accused to be brought back to the hospital for follow-up medical check-up as shown in Aglipay’s memorandum,” the court said in a July 29 order.

The court also directed Senior Insp.. Bernardino Edgar Camus of the Quezon City Jail Annex to bring Rendaje to the hospital and back to his detention cell after his check-up is over.