GMA, Ivler both have colitis

MANILA, Philippines - Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and road rage murder suspect Jason Ivler have something in common – they both have colitis.

But while the former president has been held in a private hospital and will soon be transferred to a suite at a government hospital, Ivler is held in a regular jail cell.

A week before Arroyo was diagnosed with colitis, Ivler was found to have a form of this intestinal inflammation due to his colostomy. In a Nov. 15 note to the Regional Trial Court Branch 84 in Quezon City, Dr. Romeo Abary said Ivler was shown to have diversion colitis. Arroyo is afflicted with an unspecified form of colitis, as her representatives claim.

Ivler has repeatedly asked the court to allow him to be hospitalized to reverse his colostomy, which was performed on him after he was injured when he shot it out with his captors when he was arrested in 2010. Because of this, he defecates through a bag and not through his anus.

Ivler goes to court-ordered checkups at Quirino Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City on an outpatient basis. Abary’s findings resulted from Ivler’s most recent checkup.

The road rage murder suspect, who is accused of killing Renato Victor Ebarle Jr. during a traffic altercation in 2009, is under heavy guard at the special intensive care area of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City.

While she is under the custody of the Southern Police District due to her pending electoral sabotage case, Arroyo is at St. Luke’s Medical Center’s presidential suite. She will soon be transferred to the presidential suite at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) upon orders of a Pasay court.

During a hearing on Ivler’s murder case, Abary said colitis or inflammation of the colon is a general term and has many forms. He recommended the reversal of Ivler’s colostomy after he diagnosed Ivler with an inflamed colon that may have been caused in part by the colostomy.

He said Ivler could suffering from diversion colitis, in which the discontinued intestinal tract becomes inflamed due to nutrient deprivation.

The colitis was discovered after a colonoscopy was performed on Ivler, during which a camera is inserted into the anus to probe the intestines. It was also the same procedure performed on the former president after she complained of diarrhea since the afternoon of Nov. 25.

Arroyo’s lawyers have cited her condition as a justification for delaying her transfer to VMMC to Quezon City, at least until the colitis subsides.