Ivler now behind bars

MANILA, Philippines - After more than two months’ confinement at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center (QMMC), road rage murder suspect Jason Ivler was brought to the Quezon City Jail yesterday after the court issued an order for his transfer.

Clad in a white shirt, jersey shorts, and slippers, the handcuffed Ivler was brought out of the hospital in a wheelchair at past 2 p.m. by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents. A van took him to the jail.

When asked about his thoughts just moments before he was put in his detention cell, Ivler said nothing and just repeatedly shook his head.

Quezon City regional trial court Judge Alexander Balut, who is presiding over Ivler’s murder trial, said in his April 5 order that “upon independent evaluation of the testimony of Dr. Romeo Abary of the QMMC and the medical bulletin submitted by Dr. Enrico Ragaza (of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute), the court is now satisfied of the medical fitness of the accused to be discharged from the hospital and to be concomitantly committed to a detention facility,” Balut said in the order dated April 5.

During the last court hearing, Balut explicitly asked Abary, who is Ivler’s attending physician, whether the suspect was already capable of being discharged, to which the doctor responded in the affirmative.

Ivler, who is facing murder charges for allegedly killing Renato Victor Ebarle Jr. in a traffic altercation on Nov. 18, 2009, was wounded after he shot it out with NBI agents who arrested him last Jan. 18. He underwent surgeries and has since been confined at QMMC.

Ivler’s lawyers have constantly opposed moves to have him transferred to a regular detention facility pending the complete healing of his wounds. But Abary has told the court that his wounds could already be treated even if he is not inside a hospital room.

Ivler’s mother, Marlene Aguilar-Pollard, maintained her son was still not fit to be discharged from the hospital. In an interview with reporters, Abary said: “She (Aguilar-Pollard) may be the mother, but she is not a doctor. We’re the ones who operated on her son.”

A sobbing Aguilar-Pollard, accompanied her son on his way out of the hospital and into the vehicle that brought him to jail. She told reporters she was “devastated” when she heard the news about the court’s order yesterday morning.

 “I will march to protect the civil and human rights of every man, woman and child regardless of their race, regardless of their citizenship, regardless of whether they are rich or poor. I will march to Quezon City Hall of Justice from my house in Blue Ridge. And I will march every day until they give my son his civil and human rights,” she said in a statement.

Aguilar-Pollard said she will start the march, and “allow some of his fans to come,” on April 9. She considers the date auspicious because “in Taoism (which she said she believes in), the number nine stands for ultimate protection.”

She also expressed their intention to file a motion for reconsideration on her son’s transfer.

‘International cell’

Abary accompanied Ivler during the trip, turned over his patient to officials at the Quezon City Jail. “There is no special treatment” for Ivler, he said as he left the jail.

Jail warden Superintendent Nestor Velasquez said Ivler refused to be interviewed by the media. He assured Ivler’s family that the jail’s nurses “are capable” of treating Ivler.

Ivler shares the jail’s “international cell” with 22 other foreign nationals whose cases are still being tried. Velasquez said Ivler will be given a “briefing” on how to behave in the detention cell, but noted they cannot guarantee his safety.

“So long as he doesn’t hurt anyone or provoke anyone, nothing will happen to him. It’s hard to say he won’t get hurt. But there are guards posted near his cell,” Velasquez said.

He added that Aguilar-Pollard can visit her son, but only “during regular visiting hours.” When asked whether they consider Ivler dangerous, Velasquez said every inmate is considered dangerous. Only Ivler, among the foreign nationals detained at the jail, is being tried for murder. – With Sandy Araneta