Maguindanao jail inmates get health services
HEALTH • 22:18 PM Tue Jul 21, 2015
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By:
Ferdinandh Cabrera
COTABATO CITY - A 60-year-old inmate of the Maguindanao provincial jail thought the
government does not care for people like him – crime offender and detainee.
His waist is
aching and fighting hypertension, Bobby, (not his real name) is now on his
eight year as inmate of the provincial jail facility located at PC Hill,
Cotabato City. He was charged with murder.
Rarely
visited by his loved ones, today he was thrilled Maguindanao provincial government
health providers came over to take care of them.
”I thought the
society and the government don’t care about us anymore,” the emotional Bobby said
minutes after he received several boxes of multi-vitamins and medicine. Done with medical check-up by government physicians,
Bobby told reporters about his downside feeling of being neglected.”
The
Maguindanao Medical Team served as the savior when dental and medical services
were extended to 173 inmates. Twelve of them recipients were female.
Lynette
Estandarte, Maguindanao medical team chief coordinator, said the provincial
government of Maguindanao was not only extending help to constituents who lived
freely in communities but also those inside rehabilitation centers like the
Maguindanao jail.
Estandarte
said Gov. Esmael Toto Mangudadatu directed health providers to extend similar
services to inmates to give them the opportunity to reform.”
Most of the
inmates told reporters of their innocence as they queue to avail of medical
services. Others shed tears recalling the hardship they have to endure inside
the jail facility.
Ismael, a Maranaw
inmate from Lanao del Norte facing frustrated murder charges, said he was happy
the dental team visited them. I have
been suffering from tooth ache for months now,” he said, adding he received pain
relievers and antibiotic after a tooth extraction procedure.
Jail Warden Macapagal
Blao was also thankful to the provincial government for the pecking ducks”
dispersal and vegetable inputs to be distributed in the next days after a short
tour of the prison ground where prisoners have developed a garden and chicken
raising project.
The Maguindanao
province is working on the construction of state-of-the-art penal institution
to be built in Buluan, Maguindanao. This after the province secured a 50
million loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines.
Maguindanao has
no provincial jail located in the province but temporarily uses a provincial government
owned facility in PC Hill, Cotabato City.
It is
presently located in a military reservation and residential area. Several outbreak incidents have been reported
due to its vulnerability to break-in.
Among the
escapee was a man named Datukad Samad alias Commander Lastikman,” Maguindanao’s
most wanted man next to Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin hir and his Filipino
bomb making expert Abdulbasit Usman. The two have been neutralized separately
this year.
In 2012, Lastikman
fled from Maguindanao jail but later recaptured in North Cotabato. In January 2 this year, Lastikman’s attempt
to escape was foiled by jail authorities.
(Ferdinand Cabrera)