Former Calauan, Laguna mayor and convicted rapist-murderer Antonio Sanchez has asked to be transferred to the Philippine General Hospital from the New Bilibid Prison Hospital in Muntinlupa for further medical test, the Department of Justice said on Wednesday.
Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete made the disclosure as the Bureau of Corrections is still waiting for the result of the swab test administered on Sanchez to determine if he tested positive for coronavirus.
“He is scheduled for further medical tests and has requested to be transferred to the PGH. The NBP hospital is awaiting advice from the PGH,” Perete said, when asked for an update on Sanchez’ condition.
“He was subjected to swab test last Monday but usually its three to five days before the result would be released,” the DOJ official added.
Perete said Sanchez was diagnosed to have electrolyte imbalance secondary to acute gastro enteritis, chronic kidney disease, hypertension and benign prostatic hypertrophy.
Sanchez, who is serving seven life terms at the NBP for the 1993 rape and killings of UPLB students Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez, was initially brought to the Ospital ng Muntinlupa Monday evening after complaining of shortness of breath.
However, since the hospital has no more space for probable COVID patient as Sanchez was also experiencing flu-like symptoms, prison authorities brought him back to the national penitentiary.
BuCor Spokesman Gabriel Chaclag said Sanchez was then brought to the hospital operated by the bureau inside the NBP complex.
Sanchez became controversial last year after the DOJ announced he may be able to get out of prison by availing of the good conduct allowance provided for under the controversial Good Conduct Time Allowance law.
The resulting furor prompted the authorities to review its implementation to exclude from coverage those convicted of heinous crimes.
A Senate inquiry on the issue also resulted to the revelation of other anomalies inside the NBP such as the “hospital pass for sale.”
It also led to the eventual sacking of BuCor chief Nicanor Faeldon.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has extended until September 30 the prohibition against the transfer of prisoners from one detention facility to another purportedly to control the spread of coronavirus among persons deprived of liberty.
In a circular issued by Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez, the SC forbids the transfers of suspected criminal offenders who are now in the detention facilities of the Philippine National Police to the jails managed by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
The Office of the Court Administrator also bans the transfers of convicted PDLs from BJMP jails to the facilities of the Bureau of Corrections like the National Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.
Marquez said the ban stays until September 30 “considering that the country remains to be in different levels of community quarantine due to COVID-19 pandemic.”
The original circular on the ban was issued after Local Government Secretary Eduardo M. Ano requested the SC that the issuance of commitment orders to the facilities of the BJMP “be temporarily suspended… to prevent the further contamination (of COVID-19) among PDLs in all jail units nationwide.”
Then Philippine National Police Chief Director General Archie Francisco Gamboa issued an undertaking that “the PNP can, in the meantime, accommodate newly arrested PDLs.”
The prohibition on the transfer of PDLs from BJMP to BuCor facilities was requested by BuCor Director General Gerald Bantag.
Published reports stated that there are more than 215,000 PDLs in 933 detention centers nationwide.
Jails managed by the BuCor have more than 36,900 prisoners in seven penal colonies, while about 21,000 inmates are detained at the NBP.