Court OKs grandson’s bid to visit ailing Ampatuan patriarch

A Quezon City court has allowed the grandson and co-accused of Maguindanao massacre principal suspect Andal Ampatuan Sr. to visit the ailing patriarch who is currently confined at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) in Quezon City for a serious liver ailment.

In a one page order, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Assisting Judge Genie Gapas-Agbada allowed Datu Anwar Sajid Ampatuan (Datu Ulo) to visit his terminally ill grandfather.

The order stated that the urgent motion of Datu Ulo was granted for humanitarian reasons.

Senior Inspector Lloyd Gonzaga, jail warden of the Quezon City Jail Annex in Camp Bagong Diwa was ordered by the court to escort Datu Ulo in the hospital visit in accordance with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) rules and regulations.

The court also asked the BJMP to submit a report within 48 hours of the visit.

No definite date has been set by the BJMP for Datu Ulo’s hospital visit at NKTI.

Earlier, the court has granted the similar motion of former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan.

Zaldy, an accused in the Maguindanao massacre, was allowed by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes to visit for two hours the 70-year-old Andal Sr.

An earlier medical certificate issued by NKTI physician Jade Jamias said the clan patriarch only has three to six months to live.

“Prognosis is currently dim as phar-macotic intervention is limited. Life expectancy for such case is usually 3 to 6 months but may be shorter if the liver function will continuously and progressively deteriorate,” said Jamias.

In an earlier order, Solis-Reyes granted the request of Zaldy – who is also suffering from a heart ailment – to undergo myocardial perfusion imaging at the Heart Center.

She also allowed him to visit his father at the nearby NKTI for two hours for humanitarian reasons.

The permission to visit Andal Sr. was issued despite the opposition of the prosecution panel, which said that allowing the accused could be used as a basis of other Ampatuan suspects to seek similar requests.

Andal Sr., a primary accused in the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre, was rushed to the NKTI in June 5 due to complications of his liver illness.