SC says it will look into Iggy Agbayani's case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will look into the the case of Benigno “Iggy” Agbayani Jr., the orthopedic surgeon who died while in detention in October, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo said Wednesday.

“Iche-check namin kung anong nangyari talaga roon. Hindi kami basta puwede magsabi na ganito ang gagawin. Rerepasuhin namin… at base sa kung anong naging resulta, maaari kaming gumawa ng mga bagong instruction o rules para ‘wag na maulit ‘yung ganitong sitwasyon,” Gesmundo said at a press briefing.

(We will check what happened. We can’t just say that this is what we will do. We will review it and based on the results, we may create new instructions or new rules so the same situation will not happen again.)

Asked what he meant, Gesmundo said that there may have been some lapses committed by the lawyer.

“Apparently, there was, I don’t know, there were some lapses committed by the lawyer. I think that’s the main- the root cause of the issues that came out,” Gesmundo said.  

“So naglagay tayo ng CPRA ‘di ba, Code of Professional Responsibility… let’s take a look, the CPRA is not enough to be able to address these incidents where lawyers are apparently not doing their task effectively and efficiently to protect the interest of their client. We will look into that,” he added.

In November, several doctors and medical professionals asked for a judicial review of Agbayani’s case.

Agbayani was placed in detention in May of this year after a court convicted him of reckless imprudence resulting in serious physical injuries in a case filed by Saul Hofileña Jr.,  one of his former patients.

An online petition is now being conducted for a judicial review of the case. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News