Pinoy Weekly | Ailing political prisoners denied of proper medical care, on virtual ‘death row’

Posted: 09 Oct 2013 09:26 AM PDT Ramon Argente, suffering from coronary heart disease. (Contribution) Amid the political crisis rocking the government, ailing political prisoners fight for their life in government detention centers. The Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensiyon at Aresto (Selda) said that the government has deliberately denied proper medical attention, virtually putting them “on death row.” The group said that while Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the multi-billion pork barrel scam, enjoys comfort and and amenities in Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, the family of political prisoner Ramon Argente, 53, is running out of time to raise at least PhP 700,000 to save him from coronary heart disease. Argente needs an immediate artery bypass surgery and is currently confined in Philippine Heart Center since September 26. Jigs Clamor, Selda national coordinator, accused the Aquino administration of double standard treatment of prisoners. Political prisoners who are victims of false and trumped-up charges are treated like dirt in prison facilities. While those who skimmed government funds with the collaborations of certain high government officials are given with the most elaborate security, high food allowances, air-conditioned rooms, regular monitoring of medical status, easy communication with the outside world, liberal visiting procedures, among other privileges,” Clamor said. He added that Argente was a peasant organizer who is accused of being involved in an alleged ambush by the New People’s Army against elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Maot, Labo, Camarines Norte. Along with government employees union organizers Randy Vegas and Raul Camposano, he was charged with multiple counts of murder, theft and frustrated murder before the Regional Trial Court Branch 64 in Labo. Clamor decried the denial of government in shouldering the hospitalization of sick political prisoners. He said the life of another political prisoner could have been saved if he was accorded proper medical attention. Alison Alcantara died last September due to arrhytmia, sepsis and health associated pneumonia, while being confined in Philippine General Hospital. The budget of the national government allocated for inmates or prisoners in different detention centers and penitentiary is pegged at  PhP 50 for subsistence allowance or meals. Medical allowance is only PhP 3 per day. Napoles, meanwhile, is said to enjoy a PhP 115 budget for meals daily and even has a food taster. She is also routinely check by medical doctors. Also, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was being accorded with the same treatment. We pay for every single centavo to save lives of plunderers and wrongdoers, while we let those wrongly accused die from crimes they did not even commit. This is injustice at the very core,” Clamor said. Alison Alcantara who died last month. (Contribution) Selda said that at least 48 ailing political prisoners need proper and immediate medical attention. Alvin Lauglaug, for instance, was paralyzed from the waist down because of a brain injury prior to his arrest in Poblacion Lianga, Surigao Sur on May 2, 2011. He is currently detained at the Surigao City District Jail. Vanessa de los Reyes, 28, meanwhile was considered hors d’ combat (no longer capable of fighting) when she was arrested. Reyes is now paralyzed from the neck down after she was seriously wounded in a military encounter between the AFP and NPA in Davao Oriental in May 2011. Charged with four counts of frustrated murder, she is currently under hospital arrest and heavily guarded by members of the Philippine Army. The group is calling for the release of all sick and elderly political prisoners on humanitarian grounds, including those who have served for long periods in prison. This is also the reason why Selda joins the growing movement for the abolition of all forms of pork barrel. The government should allot and rechannel the pork barrel funds to improve prison conditions in detention centers all over the country, among other basic social services which should be provided to the people,” Clamor said.