Cebu ‘drug lord’ develops fever in prison

Cebu’s top drug trafficking suspect Alvaro “Barok” Direcho Alvaro. CONTRIBUTED FILE PHOTO

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Cebu province’s top drug personality Alvaro “Barok” Alvaro is down with fever inside the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC).

But Dr. Henry Calledo of the Cebu Provincial Health Office found no compelling reason to bring Barok to the hospital.

Marco Toral, consultant on jail management of the Cebu Provincial government, said Calledo visited Alvaro in prison and decided to just give medicine to the high-profile inmate.

Barok, he said, developed fever after he was arraigned in the Regional Trial Court in Danao City in northern Cebu where he pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal possession of drugs and firearms last Tuesday.

Toral said Alvaro’s body temperature soared to 40 degrees Celsius last Tuesday and he had rashes on the body.

“He told me that whenever he had fever, rashes brought about by allergy would usually come out of his body,” he said.

The physician gave Alvaro antihistamine for his allergies.

About noon on Thursday, Toral said Alvaro’s body temperature had gone down to 38 degrees Celsius.

“His condition is improving although he’s still in bed rest,” he said.

Alvaro’s lawyer Jonah John Ungab earlier said he intended to ask permission from the court to bring his client to the hospital if needed.

Alvaro surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Bohol last June 21, four days after his “friend” Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz was killed in what operatives of the Regional Intelligence Division of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) said was a shootout in Las Piñas City.

READ: Cebu ‘drug lord’ surrenders in Bohol

He told the NBI that he feared for his and his family’s safety following the death of Diaz, the top drug personality in Central Visayas. RAM/rga