Court okays Zaldy Ampatuan’s Heart Center check-up

MANILA, Philippines—The Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 on Wednesday allowed suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Zaldy Ampatuan to undergo medical check-up at the Philippine Heart Center.

QCRTC Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes amended her earlier decision after Ampatuan’s informed the court that St. Luke’s Medical Center in Global City, Taguig refused to take one of the primary accused in the Maguindanao massacre citing security risk.

In a July 12 communication to Judge Reyes, Chief Inspector Agnes Aglipay, the head of the Health Service Unit of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology-National Capital Region, recommended that Ampatuan undergo several medical tests in “a hospital setting.”

She said Ampatuan’s private doctors had found that he had “coronary heart disease and poorly controlled diabetes mellitus that needs immediate evaluation and prompt treatment.”