ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat – Relatives of victims of the November 23, 2009 massacre in Ampatuan, Maguin-danao agree it is the right of Andal Ampatuan, Sr., to be hospitalized for an illness but would like a team of independent doctors to evaluate his condition.
The 74-year old Ampa-tuan Sr., former Maguinda-nao governor, patriarch of the Ampatuan clan and a principal suspect in the 2009 massacre that left 58 persons dead, 32 of them from the media, is presently confined at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) in Quezon City “as a case of advanced liver cancer with signs of decompensation,” according to a June 26 handwritten certificate by Dr. Jade Jamias.
An Agence France Presse report on July 2 said Ampatuan Sr., “had been in hospital for almost two months since complaining of abdominal pains while held in his maximum security jail in the capital.”
Reynafe Momay-Castil-lo, a nurse whose father Reynaldo Momay was among the 32 media workers killed in the country’s worst pre-electionelated violence, told MindaNews Friday afternoon that the Ampatuan patriarch has to right to have treatment “but for me, independent diagnosis from an independent doctor should be done.”
The Ampatuan Massacre remains to be the largest attack on journalists in the world in a single day. Mary Grace Morales, whose husband Rosell, a reporter for News Focus, and her sister, Marites Cablitas, a reporter of radio DxBX, were among the victims, echoed Castillo’s statement. Morales said it is Ampatuan Sr.’s right to be treated but she hopes an “independent evaluation” be done on the patient.
Morales recalled that in 2009, Ampatuan Sr., was brought to a hospital in Davao City instead of the detention center, allegedly because he was sick.
Rowena Carranza-Para-an, chair of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) asked in her Facebook post on Thursday evening: “Was an independent examination of the patient done by a doctor not being paid by the Ampatuans and was the one on which the court based its decision?”
Paraan said, “Nakaawa po talaga ang kahit sinong may taning na ang buhay kaya ang desisyon ay dapat may matibay na tuntungan para di makwestyon at paghinalaan. Maawa rin at wag kalimutan ang 58 na biktima ng masaker” (We commiserate with anyone who has a few months to live that is why the decision must have solid basis so it will not be questioned or doubted. Let us also commiserate with and not forget the 58 victims of the massacre). (MindaNews)
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