Gigi Reyes isolated from other detainees in Camp Bagong Diwa

Atty. Jessica “Gigi” Reyes. POOL PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Since returning to Camp Bagong Diwa Monday night, Atty. Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes was placed in isolation in a makeshift detention room that used to be an office, with a single window and an electric fan.

This was the grim picture painted by officials of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to the Sandiganbayan third division about the condition of pork barrel scam suspect Reyes.

Reyes’ isolation from other detainees was recommended by her doctors after the former aide of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile was found to be suffering from multiple anxiety disorder that prompted her fits of seizures, palpitations and panic attacks.

Due to the jail’s lack of space, jail officials said they cope with what they have just so they could secure such a high-profile detainee like Reyes.

“As of now, we only use our office as an improvised isolation area for her condition… We don’t have enough space,” jail warden Jundelina Jagunap told the court.

She added that the Bicutan female warden has four dormitories to house its 139 female detainees, even though its ideal capacity is only 78.

Each dormitory can take up 30 to 40 inmates, Jagunap said, adding that they have also under their custody nine alleged New People’s Army female fighters.

Reyes can be considered lucky by the jail standards. The downside, however, is that Reyes’ room is not properly ventilated, with a single electric fan and a lone window, Jagunap said.

Apparently, jail life was too much for Reyes, her doctor Anthony Lontoc told the court.

“The transferring from a free woman to a confined facility would have triggered the problem,” Lontoc said.

At one point, Reyes suffered from a fit of panic attack after she was told of the jail rules, Jagunap said.

Lontoc then recommended that Reyes be monitored by a psychiatrist.

Unfortunately for Reyes, the Bicutan jail has no resident psychiatrist to properly monitor the mental health of detainees, medic officer Jaime Claveria Jr. told the court.

The BJMP national headquarters, however, has only two psychiatrists, Claveria said.

He said they usually request the roving psychiatrist of the BJMP who is based at the headquarters in Quezon City for the psychiatric evaluation of detainees and staff.

But this psychiatrist is the BJMP’s roving doctor for the entire Luzon area, Claveria said.

According to Claveria, the Bicutan jail had no isolation area for mentally unstable detainees, and this alarmed Associate Justice Samuel Martires.

“What then is the point if there are no facilities to treat inmates who are psychologically ill?” Martires said.

Reyes’ lawyer Anacleto Diaz said the BJMP practically admitted that it has no capacity to secure a depressed and mentally unstable Reyes.

This means Reyes should be transferred to a better hospital like the Philippine National Police Custodial Center, where the other pork barrel scam suspects are detained.

“Clearly, BJMP is not the right facility for her,” Reyes’ lawyer told reporters after the hearing.

He denied that his client was faking her anxiety fits and hypertension.

“These are specific medical findings. How can you fake blood pressure?” Diaz said.

Reyes last Wednesday was ordered detained at the BJMP female dormitory in Camp Bagong Diwa after she surrendered to the court for her plunder charges.

But shortly after Reyes was transferred from Sandiganbayan jail to Bicutan, she complained of suffering an anxiety fit, compelling the BJMP to rush her to the Taguig hospital Thursday.

She was again transferred to the Philippine Heart Center on Friday, this time due to chest pains.

She was brought back to Camp Bagong Diwa Monday night.

Reyes is the co-accused of Enrile in the plunder case arising from the pork barrel scam.

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