MANILA, Philippines - A public prosecutor alleged yesterday during a court hearing that murder suspect Jason Ivler has been logging on to Facebook, a social networking website, and enjoying other “amenities” while under hospital arrest.
These are things that, according to State Prosecutor Ma. Cristina Rilloraza, should not be available to a crime suspect: a cellular phone, a computer and even video games.
“He (Ivler) is wallowing in luxury. When he was checked by Dr. (Enrico) Ragaza (who was tapped by the Ebarle family), he was on Facebook,” Rilloraza told reporters after yesterday’s hearing at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 76.
“He has a cell phone, a computer and video games. There are other matters that will prove the truthful condition of the accused,” Rilloraza earlier told Judge Alexander Balut.
Ragaza – chairman of the Department of Surgery of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute and a fellow of the Philippine Society of Colorectal Surgeons – has submitted a certification to the court that the suspect’s gunshot wounds could be attended to even without his continued stay at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center (QMMC).
This was the basis used by Department of Justice prosecutors in asking for Ivler’s transfer from his hospital room to the detention facility of the National Bureau of Investigation.
Ivler, who is facing murder charges for allegedly killing Renato Victor Ebarle Jr. on Nov. 18 last year, was wounded when he shot it out with agents of the National Bureau of Investigation on Jan. 18. He underwent surgeries and has since been confined at the QMMC.
Protesting Ivler’s continued stay at the QMMC and the delay of his transfer to the Quezon City Jail, prosecutors earlier asked the court for another government doctor to examine Ivler.
According to Rilloraza, the “amenities” allegedly made available to Ivler should be confiscated. “He (Ivler) is not entitled to that. He is an accused. He is not an ordinary patient,” she said.
When sought for comment on Rilloraza’s allegations, one of Ivler’s lawyers, Mitzhell Arthur Magdaong, said: “That’s totally irrelevant. Don’t you have the right (to have those things)?”
Magdaong also said the defense lawyers were “bypassed” when the Ebarle family tapped Ragaza for an opinion on Ivler’s medical condition.
Ivler’s family had also tapped the services of a private doctor – Dr. Ramon Estrada, who is with the Makati Medical Center – to examine the suspect. Ivler’s camp said he should only be transferred to a detention facility if he has already fully recovered.
When the prosecution earlier brought up in court their desire to also have another government doctor examine Ivler, the defense agreed to it, provided that the physician is also a “colorectal expert” like Estrada.
But Magdaong told Balut: “We don’t know who this Dr. Ragaza is. We haven’t established if he is an expert in his field.”
According to Magdaong, their own private doctor should have been there when Ragaza checked Ivler’s condition. He said this was something that did not happen.
However, Rilloraza stressed that even Dr. Romeo Abary, Ivler’s attending physician at QMMC, did not have any objection to Ragaza’s findings.
Upon hearing Rilloraza’s statement, Magdaong said: “It’s the word of their doctor against the word of our own doctor.”
Balut gave the defense seven days to submit their comment to the prosecution’s motion for Ivler to be transferred to the NBI detention facility. After this, the prosecution will be given the chance to submit its reply before the motion is submitted for resolution.
The next court hearing will be on March 18, during which an NBI representative and a police medico-legal officer will take the witness stand. Ivler will not be required to attend those hearings, Magdaong said. Meanwhile, Ragaza will also be called to appear in court on that day.