Special treatment for Marcoleta
Were it not for a sharp Sandiganbayan justice, the Philippine National Police would have gotten away with giving special treatment to Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, who was charged with the nonbailable case of plunder for accepting P75 million in campaign donations he failed to declare.
Since his arrest on July 6, Marcoleta has remained at the PNP General Hospital (PNPGH) in Camp Crame instead of being brought to the New Quezon City jail in Payatas, where his three other co-accused were detained upon their arrest.
Just before he was arrested, Marcoleta was up and about when he went to the Sandiganbayan for a hearing on his motions to stop his arrest and suspend the proceedings against him. The Sandiganbayan third division denied his motions, and he was served the arrest warrant while he was in the court’s premises.
Expectedly, Marcoleta promptly complained of chest pains and was taken to the PNPGH, where he was diagnosed with hypertension, degenerative disc disease, and mild pneumonia. Police Lt. Col. Benaly Bayani, chief of the PNPGH internal medicine department, recommended that Marcoleta, 72, be isolated from other detainees ostensibly because his age, elevated bad cholesterol levels, and mild pneumonia put him at higher risk in a regular jail environment.
A rebuff of the PNP
Despite coughing up these justifications, the PNP allowed Vice President Sara Duterte and Sen. Robinhood Padilla to visit him. And they did not even wear face masks.
The PNP’s undue pandering to Marcoleta did not go unnoticed. At a hearing to assess the senator’s condition, Sandiganbayan third division Associate Justice Ronald Moreno did not let the PNP get away with their ”palusot.”
“Why are you allowing him to be visited if he needs isolation? That, I cannot reconcile,” Moreno asked Bayani, who passed the buck to the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG). CIDG unit director for Metro Manila Col. John Guiagui had his own justification for allowing Duterte and Padilla to visit Marcoleta, saying “that is the request” of Marcoleta and his family, as if detainees now have the right to dictate the detention protocols and regulations.
In a rebuff of the PNP officials’ actions, Sandiganbayan third division chair Associate Justice Karl Miranda ordered an independent examination of Marcoleta’s health by the Philippine General Hospital after noting the “very revealing” answers to Moreno’s questions about the PNP’s custody of the senator.
Looking the other way
Indeed, why were special privileges accorded to Marcoleta, while his co-accused, former congressman Mike Defensor and two businessmen, as well as Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., and public works officials charged with plunder over the flood control scandal, were promptly detained in the Payatas jail? Marcoleta was even allowed to post a message to his supporters on Facebook, despite restrictions on the use of phones and digital devices in detention.
Certainly, his ailments can be properly managed at the Payatas jail, which has sprawling space, amenities, and only a few detainees at the moment. He did not even complain of those ailments when he presided over a rump hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee last month.
Could the police be looking the other way because Marcoleta is a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), which mounted rallies to protest the senator’s impending arrest? The PNP’s National Capital Regional Police Office, whose chief is an INC member, failed to prevent the surprise rally from choking traffic on Edsa to the detriment of tens of thousands of commuters on June 30.
If this is the case, then Sen. Panfilo Lacson should push through with his plan to question the PNP and the interior department on who is footing the bill for the hospital arrest of Marcoleta and former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, who is also charged with plunder in connection with the flood control corruption.
Double standard
Bonoan was placed under hospital arrest for more serious ailments, including stage 4 chronic renal disease and prostate cancer.
Lacson voiced the common observation made whenever high public officials and influential personalities are arrested. “When a warrant of arrest is out and the person has high standing in society, they suddenly become ill, and all the medical complications come out. There’s pneumonia, high blood pressure, high cholesterol–everything hurts. Suddenly there’s a neck brace, and then their back hurts,” Lacson said.
This modus operandi of the powerful should really be called out and stopped, as it makes a mockery of our justice system and confirms public perception of a double standard in favor of the rich and well-connected.
It begins with the PNP strictly applying the rules to all detainees regardless of their status, instead of providing them with an excuse and a shield to avoid detention in the regular jails. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, who has supervision over the PNP, should make good on his earlier pronouncements that there will be no special treatment for those arrested for plunder and other crimes.
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