The Sandiganbayan on Friday demanded accountability from the Philippine National Police after Vice President Sara Duterte and Senator Robin Padilla were allowed to visit detained Senator Rodante Marcoleta, who is confined at the PNP General Hospital for pneumonia.
Associate Justice Ronald Moreno of the Third Division asked police officials: “He has pneumonia. Why are we allowing him to be visited by several individuals? He is under your care.” The query was directed at Police Lt. Col. Benaly Bayani, chief of the hospital’s Internal Medicine Department, who earlier recommended isolation for Marcoleta until July 15 to complete antibiotics.
Bayani admitted she was not present when Duterte and Padilla arrived. Asked if she was taking command responsibility, she replied: “We will look into it.” PNP Health Service director Brig. Gen. Portia Manalad conceded: “It was a lapse on our part. It won’t happen again.” She later clarified the lapse was limited to failing to require Marcoleta and his visitors to wear face masks.
Marcoleta, arrested on July 6 for a ₱75-million plunder case involving undeclared campaign donations, is under hospital detention for pneumonia and heart-related ailments. Bayani told the court he is “fit to travel” provided he wears a mask, and confirmed his condition is improving. “Upon admission, Your Honor, but he is now improving,” she said when asked if his illness was life-threatening.
Justice Karl Miranda, chair of the Third Division, ordered UP PGH director Dr. Gerardo Legaspi or his delegate to conduct a medical examination. “Your answers to the questions of the Justice are very revealing,” Miranda remarked.
Marcoleta is expected to be transferred to the New Quezon City Jail male dorm in Payatas, where co-accused former Anakalusugan Rep. Michael Defensor and businessmen Joseph Varias Espiritu and Aristotle Baluyut Viray are also detained.
In a related development, the Third Division granted the Sixth Division’s request to consolidate Marcoleta’s plunder case with a separate charge of receiving gifts, allowing a joint trial under its jurisdiction.# (ZIA LUNA)
