Andal Sr. back in jail after DOJ slams 'special treatment'

MANILA, Philippines - Former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. was brought back to jail from a military hospital a day after Justice Secretary Leila de Lima denounced the alleged “special treatment” given to the clan patriarch linked to the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao last year.

Chief Inspector Ermilito Moral, office-in-charge of Quezon City Jail Annex-Camp Bagong Diwa, told The STAR that Ampatuan Sr. arrived at the Bicutan facility about 3:30 p.m. last Friday.

He was escorted by members of the police Special Action Force, soldiers and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology personnel, among others.

Moral said Ampatuan, who was sharing his detention cell with his sons, will be temporarily isolated, pending the result of his medical exam.

Ampatuan was confined at the V. Luna Hospital last Monday after Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 approved his urgent motion that sought to allow him to be treated for herpes zoster, or shingles, a disease caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox.

De Lima, however, questioned the “special treatment” given to the clan patriarch, who was transported to the hospital in his Lexus sport utility vehicle.

De Lima added last Thursday that Ampatuan should be immediately brought back to jail since “the court only allowed a few days for him to stay in the hospital.”