CA junks Zaldy Ampatuan’s plea to be freed from Bilibid due to COVID-19

The Court of Appeals (CA) denied the petition of former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan, who was convicted for the Maguindanao Massacre, to be transferred from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) to a medical facility so he would be protected from threats posed by COVID-19.

In a nine-page decision dated July 4, the CA Special Division of Five argued that the National Capital Region (NCR) was already under an Alert Level 1, the lowest in the alert level system. The NBP is located in Muntinlupa City.

It also cited a report that at least 27,000 of the nearly 50,000 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of March 14, 2022. They have also started receiving booster shots.

“Today, the Covid-19 infections in the entire country have already gone down, and the NCR is no longer on GCQ (general community quarantine) but is presently on Alert Level 1, as officially announced by the President of the Philippines last April 8, 2022. Alert Level 1 refers to areas wherein case transmission [of the virus] is low and decreasing, total bed utilization rate, and intensive care unit utilization rate is low,” the decision read.

The CA's decision came after Ampatuan’s petition for certiorari questioned the July 2020 order of Regional Trial Court, Quezon City, Branch 221 Presiding Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes, who denied his urgent motion to be extricated from the NBP due to the pandemic for “lack of merit.”

According to the CA, Ampatuan did not move for reconsideration but alleged that the “public respondent committed grave abuse of discretion in denying [his] transfer to a hospital despite the clear and present danger posed by [his] continued stay at the NBP.”

The ruling, originally signed by Associate Justice Angelene Mary Quimpo-Sale, stated that the petition “does not expound on how the clear and present danger rule applies to petitioner, when the issue raised herein neither involves the freedom of expression nor of religion.”

Solis-Reyes previously said that while COVID-19 had entered the NBP, the facility has its infirmary to provide him medical treatment, if needed.

She said Ampatuan’s motion allegedly stemmed from him having “suffered an acute infarct (stroke) on three different occasions within the span of two (2) months prior to his commitment to the NBP, and his having hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and chronic atrial fibrillation puts him vulnerable to contracting COVID-19.”

On November 23, 2009, armed men abducted the relatives and supporters of Maguindanao gubernatorial candidate Esmael Mangudadatu who were on their way to file his candidacy, and forced them up a remote hill where they were shot and killed.

Fifty-eight people died, 32 of them members of the media who had accompanied Mangudadatu's camp to cover the candidacy filing. Six of the victims were not part of the convoy at all.

Dozens have been convicted for the multiple murders on December 19, 2019, including Zaldy Ampatuan himself. Others convicted included former Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., Anwar Ampatuan Sr., Anwar "Ipi" Ampatuan Jr., and Anwar Sajid "Ulo" Ampatuan, and several police officers. — DVM, GMA News