Gigi Reyes panics, is hysterical after seeing Reds in jail
MANILA, Philippines–“Panic attack” stemming from her being cooped up with suspected female members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).
This was the ground used by the lawyer of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile’s former chief of staff and coaccused in a plunder case related to the pork barrel scam in appealing the Sandiganbayan decision to detain her at Camp Bagong Diwa after she suffered the attack.
In a five-page motion for reconsideration filed Thursday morning, lawyer Anacleto Diaz said her client, Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, had requested to be transferred instead to the Philippine National Police Custodial Center near PNP General Hospital where her former boss is staying.
Security risks
Diaz claimed that Reyes feared retaliation from her nine female dorm mates suspected to be members of the NPA, “which is hostile and antagonistic to Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, who was the minister of defense during the martial law regime of Ferdinand Marcos.”
“[That] accused Reyes will have to mingle in the common areas poses security risks to her life and has caused her fear and contributed to her anxiety,” Diaz said.
Reyes was rushed to the hospital early Thursday morning after she reportedly had a “panic attack” and her blood pressure shot through the roof less than three hours after she was taken to the female dormitory in Camp Bagong Diwa.
Reyes was transferred to the detention facility from the Sandiganbayan jail around 11:20 p.m. on Wednesday, after the Third Division of the antigraft court junked her request to be detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, also in Quezon City.
The hospitalization at Taguig-Pateros District Hospital appeared to have been uncoordinated, with Insp. Aris Villaester unable to confirm it in the early hours of Thursday morning.
“We still have no information on that,” Villaester said when reached by the Inquirer over the phone past 9 a.m. He said Reyes had been hospitalized when reached again by the Inquirer at 11:50 a.m.
A press release sent by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) past 1 p.m. said Reyes was rushed to the “nearest government hospital from the Taguig City Jail Female Dorm” around 1 a.m., upon the recommendation of Senior Insp. Jaime Claveria, BJMP doctor.
The press release said the recommendation was made after a nurse who checked on Reyes’ condition in her cell—a 1.5 by 6 meters “isolation cell” she shared with two pregnant women—discovered that Reyes “experienced” a “panic attack” and that her blood pressure had reached 170/110.
“Claveria learned that Reyes has a history (sic) of anxiety disorder,” the release added.
Pedro Villaflor, administrative officer of the Public Order and Safety Office whose personnel are deployed to the government hospital to ensure security, said Reyes and the BJMP personnel who accompanied her arrived at the medical center at 1:05 a.m.
A hospital logbook, however, showed that Taguig police arrived at 1:32 a.m., and the BJMP at 1:37 a.m.
‘A bit hysterical’
According to Dr. Prudencio Sta. Lucia, the hospital medical director, records showed that Reyes was “a bit hysterical” when she arrived.
“According to information, she was stiffening (naninigas) and there appeared to be something coming out of her mouth that was [bumubula],” he said.
He said Reyes was given an antianxiety medication, which calmed her down “somehow.”
Sta. Lucia said Reyes was taken to a four-bed private room on the third floor but later on Thursday, she was transferred to a two-bed private room—4 by 8 meters—on the second floor.
Both rooms are air conditioned and have their own bathrooms, said Sta. Lucia, who talked to reporters around noon.
“There isn’t any [television]. Just air con. [We transferred her] because the first room, that was big and there are [several] beds there, so we wouldn’t be able to house other patients there. That’s why we transferred her to a smaller room, where she will be alone,” he said.
Asked why other patients were not allowed to stay with Reyes in a room, Sta. Lucia cited security reasons.
“We also consider that as part of our operations because this isn’t an ordinary case,” he said.
Sta. Lucia said “less than 10” BJMP personnel stood guard outside Reyes’ room and that they screened whoever wanted to go inside.
“So [the room] is really not open to everybody,” he said, also refusing to allow the media to see the place.
Relatives
Sta. Lucia said he saw two relatives visit Reyes in the room since she was confined, adding that “many” others, based on information he received, followed suit on Thursday morning.
According to the doctor, Reyes underwent “basic” laboratory tests such as a complete blood count examination and an electrocardiogram.
He said on Thursday morning that Reyes complained of back pain and was given an analgesic. “I asked her what position she preferred, so she opted to (lie down flat) on the bed.”
So far, Sta. Lucia said, Reyes’ vital signs were “stable,” and her blood pressure had “significantly” gone down to 130/90.
Although “still high,” compared with the initial reading, “it’s lower,” adding the normal blood pressure was 120/80.
Hypertension
According to Sta. Lucia, doctors initially diagnosed Reyes with hypertension and gave her antihypertensive medication. They also initially diagnosed her with neurocirculatory asthenia (NCA), some form of anxiety disorder, Sta. Lucia said.
“NCA is caused, since it is psychological, by stresses,” he said, but was quick to add that he could not say if the present condition had something to do with the apparent ailment.
Doctors, he added, had not discounted a seizure disorder, which is brain-related.
“We have not discounted seizure disorder… but it looks like the presentation (of symptoms) is NCA,” he said, adding “further workups” were needed before they could make a conclusion.
Sta. Lucia said that in the meantime, Reyes had to “be observed, and monitored closely.”
He said although so far Reyes’ vital signs were stable, doctors “really need(ed) to monitor” her because her condition might worsen into something “lethal” given her history of Bell’s Palsy—or the paralysis of facial muscles—and coronary artery disease.
She could have a stroke, for example, he said.
Further tests needed
He said Reyes might have to be transferred to another hospital should it be found she has a more serious condition. But we will abide by any court order (on the matter). We cannot question that,” he said.
Diaz said Reyes required further tests to be conducted by her personal doctors “to consider disorder seizure and to rule out cardiac arrhythmia in view of [her] known history of dyspepsia, coronary artery disease, Bell’s Palsy and seizure attack.”
“Even if the accused recovers, a repeat of what happened to her at Camp Bagong Diwa will certainly imperil her life, thus necessitating her transfer to the PNP Custodial Center with PNP General Hospital nearby,” Diaz said.
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