BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – Charges of frustrated murder and murder filed against a 74-year-old political detainee who is in intensive care unit have been dismissed by a local court in Tabuk City, Kalinga, even as he hovers between life and death for various ailments.
According to the latest update from the Cordillera Human rights Alliance (CHRA), Marcos Aggalao – who is suffering from dementia, hypertension and pneumonia – was again rushed to the ICU of the Kalinga Provincial Hospital as he suffered his third stroke Tuesday (Aug. 29) morning. According to one of the staff of the CHRA, his relatives trooped to the hospital waiting for positive news on Aggalao’s health.
Despite his frail health, Aggalao was still arrested by the Kalinga Philippine National Police (PNP) and elements of the 503rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army (IBPA) on September 10, 2016.
Aggalao was detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), facing eight charges that CHRA described as trumped-up. On July 2017, he suffered from a stroke, forcing his jailers to bring him to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Kalinga Provincial hospital. Half of his body was paralyzed after that.
After receiving brief medical attention, he was brought back to the BJMP Kalinga. According to CHRA, Aggalao being half-paralyzed, had to be literally fed by his cellmates. His relatives and village mates raised P100, 000 for his bail, allowing him to be temporarily a free man. However, he was brought back to jail after murder charges were again filed against him, this time in Baguio City.
The cases filed in Baguio City are ongoing.