[Rappler Investigates] Refuge of the privileged accused

You’ve probably noticed, just as we have, that there’s a common playbook being passed around by government officials facing imminent arrest or a string of legal cases. It’s finding refuge in a hospital after raising a variety of illnesses that require medical attention. Top officials, including past presidents charged with plunder and/or graft and corruption, suddenly fell ill or developed illnesses that merited confinement. It’s not totally surprising for officials used to being accorded special attention and treatment to suddenly develop heart ailments, if not hypertension. Researcher Lourence Marcellana reviewed the past two decades and found at least eight top officials — top, mind you, not even lower-ranking — who either sought prolonged hospital stay or temporary relief in hospitals before or during detention.

No one admitted, but many suspected, that the hospital admissions especially for the likes of former speaker Martin Romualdez — who went straight to a hospital before an arrest warrant could be served — might have been a means to delay the inevitable : imprisonment. But assuming good faith and authentic health needs, Southern Illinois University criminology associate professor Raymund Narag pointed out in his piece : “Medical considerations… have appeared selectively available to the rich and powerful. ” Whatever criteria were applied to Romualdez should likewise “apply to thousands of poor Filipinos now languishing in overcrowded jails nationwide. ” These Filipinos have been no match, too, for the likes of former presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (who had neck issues ) and Joseph Estrada (knees), or even senators Jinggoy Estrada , Rodante Marcoleta , and Juan Ponce Enrile , former first lady Imelda Marcos (recently acquitted by the Supreme Court on seven…