EDITORIAL - VIP detainees

Former regional governor Zaldy Ampatuan got his wish for a medical checkup at the Philippine Heart Center, but authorities appear cool to his request for prolonged hospital confinement. If a person used to luxurious living suddenly finds himself forced to stay in modest if not downright seedy surroundings, he’ll likely feel sick. And if the circumstances that thrust him into such plebeian accommodations involve multiple murder indictments, he could feel – or imagine feeling – the onset of a heart attack.

Curiously, it seems the only inmates in this country who are rushed to hospitals outside detention centers after complaining of such symptoms are rich businessmen and well-connected politicians. Businessman Jose Antonio Leviste, in prison for killing his aide, not only spent time in hospitals outside the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa but also enjoyed unprecedented “living out” privileges in his own Makati condominium. Among his inspirations must have been former congressman Romeo Jalosjos and former Mindoro Occidental governor Jose Villarosa.

The nation can make an exception in certain cases. Joseph Estrada, for example, enjoyed “hospital arrest” together with his son Jinggoy for some time while they were on trial for plunder. Estrada, after all, was a former president at the time of his arrest, and if his argument is to be followed, he was in fact still the incumbent president at the time and shouldn’t have been detained in the first place.

That was an unprecedented case. Many other detainees simply feign illness to get out of detention. This is understandable, considering the deplorable state of Philippine detention facilities, particularly the jails run by local governments for inmates who have not yet been convicted. The heat and dirt in an overcrowded cell, plus bites from mosquitoes, cockroaches and rats, can truly induce illness.

The answer, however, is to improve detention facilities and health care for all detainees, rather than give special privileges to VIP inmates. Jailbirds are not the only ones who develop illnesses that require hospitalization. VIPs under investigation in connection with serious crimes often check into hospitals, looking for an excuse that doctors can legitimize to escape congressional inquiries or judicial proceedings.

Health care facilities in detention centers are limited, but authorities should rationalize the grant of requests for hospital confinement by inmates. Hospitals should not serve as a refuge for scoundrels and VIP detainees.