Political prisoner suffers chest pain, is hospitalized

Another elderly political prisoner was hospitalized after suffering from chest pains on Monday, a week after a political prisoner died from a heart attack three after slipping into a coma.

Apolonio Barado, 62, was admitted to New Bilibid Prison (NBP) hospital after experiencing chest pains around 8 a.m. on Sunday, according to the rights group Karapatan.

The prison doctor recommended the immediate transfer of Barado to a better-equipped hospital, but nobody was around to do the paperwork.

Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said the paperwork moved only on Monday morning, and Barado was transferred to Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City at 7 a.m.

She said Barado had been in prison since 2001, convicted of what she described as trumped-up charges of multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder.

Barado is serving his sentence in NBP’s maximum security compound.

Barado, who has previously suffered a heart attack and has heart disease, hypertension and diabetes, is among the 130 sickly and elderly political prisoners recommended for immediate release on humanitarian grounds.

Another prisoner considered for release on humanitarian grounds, Bernabe Ocasla, 66, died after suffering a heart attack at Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital in Manila on Nov. 28, after three days after he slipped into a coma.

Karapatan said Ocasla was a farmer arrested in 2007 and was one of those charged with multiple murder.