Ebarle slams Ivler kin over delayed jail transfer

MANILA, Philippines - Palace Undersecretary Renato Ebarle Sr. yesterday accused the family of Jason Ivler of dilatory tactics, saying this was to prevent the murder suspect’s transfer to the Quezon City Jail.

“They (Ivler’s camp) would like to employ every tactic to delay the process of the case...to avoid his transfer to the city jail,” he told reporters after a pre-trial conference yesterday afternoon at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 76.

Also yesterday, prosecution lawyers asked presiding Judge Alexander Balut for another government doctor to examine Ivler.

Based on a medical bulletin submitted by doctors at Quirino Memorial Medical Center, where Ivler remains confined, the supposed operation to close his wounds last Monday did not push through.

Doctors Romeo Abary and Jose Albert Capuno said Ivler “withheld his consent pending his family’s request for a second opinion from Dr. Ramon Estrada.”

Ivler’s lawyer Alexis Medina explained during the pre-trial conference that Estrada, who is with the Makati Medical Center, relayed to him that it would be better for Ivler’s wound to heal naturally.

Medina said Estrada, whom he described as a colorectal surgery expert, is ready to submit his medical opinion to the court.

But the prosecution asked the court for another government doctor to examine Ivler, with Ebarle’s lawyer, Romeo Alcantara, saying that it was the right of the victim’s family to have a speedy trial.

Ivler — who faces murder charges for allegedly killing Renato Victor Ebarle Jr. during a road rage incident on Nov. 18, 2009 — was injured when he shot it out with arresting agents of the National Bureau of Investigation on Jan. 18.

Ebarle Sr. said: “The fact that up to now since January, he is still there in the hospital (shows) he wants preferential treatment. I hope his transfer to the city jail will be expedited.”

But Medina denied they were delaying the proceedings and said they would agree to the prosecution’s motion for another government physician to examine his client if this doctor is also a “colorectal expert.”

Asked why his client decided not to have the surgery scheduled last Monday to seek a second opinion from a private doctor, Medina said it was Ivler’s right to do so.

A court staff said the next scheduled hearing will be on March 23, during which an NBI agent and a police officer will take the witness stand.

Balut said the court has arranged for the succeeding Tuesday afternoons to be cleared of any other hearings to give way to Ivler’s case.