Maguindanao del Sur mayor in double murder case in Davao hospital

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines – A Maguindanao del Sur town mayor, arrested in Davao City early this month for double murder, was taken to a hospital on court orders and remained confined there while doctors check on his heart condition.

Lieutenant Colonel Bernard Lao, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in the Bangsamoro region, on Wednesday, September 21, said they had to bring the mayor from the CIDG office in Cotabato City to Davao City on Tuesday, September 20, because it was a court order.

The CIDG complied with the order despite test results that showed that Mayor Khaddafe “Toy” Mangudadatu of Pandag, Maguindanao del Sur, was fine.

Lao said Mangudadatu had sought the court’s permission to allow him to undergo a supposedly scheduled coronary angiogram at the Davao Doctors Hospital.

Lawyers of Mangudadatu said the mayor had been scheduled to undergo an examination when he was in Davao but was immediately taken to Cotabato City for detention.

Mangudadatu was arrested at a hotel in Davao City on September 10 based on a warrant issued by Judge Samina Macabando-Usman of the Regional Trial Court Branch 20 in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat.

The arrested mayor, a former legislator in the Bangsamoro region and a brother of former Maguindanao 1st District representative Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, was implicated in the October 7, 2010 murder of Abdulah Kanapia Ligawan and his wife Lala in Purok 6, Barangay Sinakulay, President Quirino town in Sultan Kudarat province.

Also ordered arrested by the court were his brother Zajid “Dong” Mangudadatu, Mamayang Amino, and Tunggal Usop. They have remained at large as of this posting.

During his arrest, the 44-year-old Mangudadatu complained of chest pains and was brought to the Davao Doctors Hospital where he underwent examination.

A Philippine National Police physician, who accompanied the mayor from Davao to Cotabato City, said on September 13 that Mangudadatu was in good shape when he was examined following his arrest, and throughout the more than 200-kilometer road trip.

“Until such time that we arrived here at the camp, the patient has had no signs of respiratory diseases or ailments, and had no chest discomfort at the time of the travel from Davao Doctors up to here at PC Hill,” said Captain Richard Ebero, medical officer of the Medical and Dental Unit of the police in Region XI (Davao Region).

He said he saw the results of the CT scan, x-ray, and blood tests conducted at the Davao hospital, and all were within the normal range.

“If his doctor, a cardiologist, would like to have a diagnostic, let me be clear that it’s not a treatment but a diagnostic procedure, which means they will still look for an ailment. They still do not know if the mayor has a heart ailment,” Ebero said.

He said that anyone has a right to seek hospital arrest, “but that person’s doctor must prove and justify a hospital arrest.”

But in Mangudadatu’s case, Ebero said, “he is not in critical condition.”

“Lab results don’t lie,” he said. – Rappler.com