Groups seek release of ailing Iloilo detainee

Tomas Dominado—CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

ILOILO CITY—Activists and progressive groups on Panay Island called for the immediate release of an ailing prisoner now detained in Pototan town, Iloilo.

Tomas Dominado, 74, was arrested in Barangay San Jose, Arevalo, Iloilo City last Dec. 5 by virtue of court-issued arrest warrants, on murder and attempted murder charges filed against him by the military.

READ: Iloilo prisoners’ protest a ‘microcosm’ of ugly PH jail conditions

However, Dominado, a stroke survivor, is currently bedridden, relies on an aide to move around, and needs urgent medical attention since he has trouble breathing, according to the Alliance Karapatan (PAK), Bayan Muna Partylist and the League of Filipino Students-West Visayas State University (LFS-WVSU) in separate statements on Wednesday.

The military claimed Dominado served as secretary of the Communist Party of the Philippines’ regional committee on Panay Island and allegedly had a hand in the deaths of two civilians—Ruben Cabunagan and Arturo Tagudinay in Tubungan, Iloilo, in 2007—as well as the attempted murder of Jodie Mordice of Miagao, Iloilo, in the same year.

Baseless

The three groups maintained the charges against Dominado were “baseless.”

Dominado’s daughter Tamara, in a social media post, claimed authorities were intentionally delaying her father’s treatment.

She said her father was first held at the Sooc Police Station in Iloilo City on Dec. 9 and was to be transported in an ambulance to a hospital in the city but was instead sent to the Regional Trial Court in Mambusao, Capiz.

After Dominado was presented to the court, the judge ordered that he be sent to the Pototan Jail in Iloilo.

Tamara said that before her father was jailed, he was brought to the Pototan Provincial Hospital for medical assessment, but no tests were done to check his condition. The medical staff only asked for Dominado’s name, and the hospital then gave the clearance for Dominado to be placed behind bars, Tamara claimed.

Stroke survivor

She criticized authorities for the bad treatment received by her father, whom she described as one “who could barely remember if he ate breakfast or poop.”

Dominado was a stroke survivor and has a history of other ailments, such as hypertension, heart enlargement, and neurological deficits, the daughter said.

The military hailed Dominado’s arrest, with Maj. Gen. Marion Sison, commander of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, saying in a statement that it was a “testament to our unwavering commitment to finding, fixing, and finishing all remnants of the Communist Terrorist Group.”

Sison appealed to communist rebels to surrender and avail of the government’s programs that offered them a fresh start.