Court allows medical exam for massacre suspect

MANILA, Philippines - A Quezon City court handling the 2009 Maguindanao massacre trial has allowed one of the suspects charged in the multiple murder case to undergo medical examination at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).

In a two-page order, Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes directed the jail warden of the Quezon City Jail-Annex in Camp Bagong Diwa to transport suspect Abedin Alamada to the PGH today.

The order was issued after Alamada filed an urgent motion seeking court’s permission for him to be examined by physicians. He earlier asked the court to allow him to undergo treatment due to the severe pain he feels whenever he urinates.

The suspect, through lawyer Michael Uy, said his right kidney was surgically removed three years ago and a tube was attached in its place, extending to his urethra.

The thin, hollow tube – called a double-J stent – is placed inside the ureter during surgery to ensure drainage of urine from the kidney into the bladder. Alamada said he experiences severe pain whenever the tube moves inside his body.

The court earlier allowed him to undergo laboratory tests in PGH in July.

In a recommendation dated Aug. 1, PGH physician Juan Carlos Abon suggested the “temporary lifting of detention for accused as he will need to undergo additional examination at the outpatient clinic to determine the possibility of accused’s admission and operation in the said hospital.”

Solis-Reyes allowed the transfer of Alamada to PGH after the prosecution panel posed no objection to the request.

Alamada said he will submit the needed motion for his operation upon the receipt of proper recommendation from his doctors.

Alamada, also known as Kumander Bedi, was arrested by authorities in an operation in South Cotabato in November 2012.

He was among the 107 suspects nabbed for the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre, which claimed the lives of 58 people, including 32 media practitioners.