Philippines: Bishop’s Intervention Sought for Sick Detainee

(Hong Kong, March 27, 2008) The Asian Human Rights Commission on
Wednesday has sought the intervention of a Catholic bishop in the
case of an ailing detainee, one of the Abadilla Five, who fears for
his life due to the inability of the authorities to provide medical
assistance.

Basil Fernando, AHRC executive director, had asked Bishop Pedro
Arigo, head of the Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care
(ECPPC), to help Lenido Lumanog obtain the medication and treatment
he requires.

“Your prompt intervention would be of extreme importance to this
prisoner in need,” Fernando said in his letter on March 26 to Bishop
Arigo.

Lenido, a kidney transplant patient since April 2003, is presently
detained at the New Bilibid Prisons, Muntinlupa City. His health has
since deteriorated due to insufficient medication and treatment. His
family is unable to pay the cost of his medication.

The AHRC has express deep concern by the inadequate attention Lenido
is receiving inside the prison given the severity of his condition.

“He (Lenido) has acquired illness of diabetes, hernia and often
experiences difficulty in breathing,” Fernando added. There have been
occasions when Lenido was prevented from leaving the prison for his
regular checkups.

The ECPPC’s help was sought after it was learned that their office
has made previous interventions for sick prisoners and also for their
advocacy on prison conditions. The ECPPC is under the Catholic Bishops
Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Lenido and the four other co-accused Augusto Santos, Senior Police
Officer 2 (SPO2) Cesar Fortuna, Rameses de Jesus and Joel de Jesus,
were convicted by a local court in August 1999 for the murder of a
police colonel. The appellate review of their case has dragged on for
over eleven years.

Lenido’s imprisonment as a result of the excessive delay of their
case is aggravating his condition as he awaits the conclusion of his
case.

On March 18, lawyer Soliman Santos who represents the Abadilla Five,
wrote to the UN Human Rights Committee urging them to make an early
decision on the complaint they had filed against the Philippine
government on the excessive delay and lack of domestic remedies of
the Abadilla Five in March 2006. The complaint was filed under the
Optional Protocol complaint procedure of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

The government is a State party to the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights and has also signed the Optional Protocol
which allows individual complaints against the State for violation of
rights.

Santos said that “an early decision by the Committee on the issues of
delay and the appellate review might in turn help spur an early
decision by the Philippine Court of Appeals on the issue of [the
victims] guilt or innocence”.

In January this year, the AHRC launched campaign requesting Justice
Agustin Dizon of the Court of Appeals to conclude the appellate
review before he retires 91 days from today. Under the Constitution,
a review by appellate courts should be completed within one year once
the case is submitted for decision. The case was submitted for
decision on 29 November 2006 but to date no conclusion has been made.

For further information on this case, please visit our campaign
website: http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/abadilla5/

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