Enrile gets another eye check-up at Makati hospital

MANILA, Philippines – After a week in detention, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile again left Camp Crame for an eye check-up at a hospital in Makati City early Saturday morning, July 12.

DZMM reported that the 90-year-old lawmaker, who has age-related macular degeneration in both eyes, left the Philippine National Police General Hospital before 7 am for the Asian Eye Institute in Makati. 

He was in the hospital for the procedure on July 5, the same day last week.

After a 30-minute check-up, he returned to the PNP hospital where he is temporarily detained. 

Enrile declined to talk to reporters but in an interview with the media on July 5 after his first check-up since his detention, he said he needed a regular check-up to keep him from going blind.

The senator had asked the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan to allow him to remain under hospital arrest at the PNP facility, but the court’s Third Division has held in abeyance its decision on the motion. (READ: Enrile gets to stay at police hospital for now)

On July 9, the court ordered the director of the Philippine General Hospital in Manila, Dr Jose Gonzales, to conduct a medical exam on the senator, which was done the following day.

Enrile’s lawyer Estelito Mendoza had argued that the senator is in frail condition and may suffer from attacks that are “immediately fatal.”

Camp Crame doctors had said that Enrile could suffer a stroke if he is moved to the PNP Custodial Center, where Senators Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr are currently detained because of his unstable blood pressure.

Enrile faces plunder and graft charges for his alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam, where lawmakers used their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for ghost projects of bogus non-governmental organizations, in exchange for hefty commissions.

Enrile’s former chief of staff and co-accused, Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes is currently at the Philippine Heart Center where militant groups staged a protest against her “special treatment” on Saturday.

Reyes was transferred to the hospital on July 11, after she complained of chest pains while confined at the Taguig Pateros District Hospital.

Reyes was ordered detained at the Camp Bagong Diwa detention facility but had only been in her shared cell for nearly two hours when she was rushed to the Taguig hospital due to a panic attack. – Rappler.com