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By James
Konstantin Galvez, Reporter
The Department
of Justice on Friday asked the Makati City Regional Trial Court to
cite for contempt former Batangas governor Antonio Leviste and his
doctors at the Makati Medical Center for defying the court order for
his immediate transfer to the city jail.
In an urgent
motion, Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco asked Judge Elmo
Alameda of Branch 150 of the Makati RTC to cite Leviste and doctors
Reynato Kasillag and Ramon Luis Liboro “for conspiring with each
other in unlawfully defying” the Court’s order by moving Leviste
from the jail to the hospital.
Velasco asked
the Court to order the immediate return of Leviste to jail.
He said the
Leviste just wanted to “stay out of the jail” despite facing the
nonbailable offense of murder.
The former
governor is accused of killing his long-time confidant, Rafael de
las Alas, last January 12 after a heated argument inside Leviste’s
office in Makati.
“It is
crystal clear that the accused wanted from the very beginning to
stay out of jail … Likewise it is clear that accused wanted to be
accorded VIP treatment despite having admitted killing his long-time
aide,” Velasco said.
The continued
stay of Leviste at the MMC has no basis because even the two doctors
and the medico-legal officer of the National Bureau of Investigation
testified that his condition was stable enough for him to be brought
back to jail within the week, he said.
The doctors
“refuse to issue the discharge order. Such refusal is clearly
being done by the doctors in conspiracy with the accused so he could
continue to enjoy the comforts and luxury of a hospital suite
instead of staying in jail,” he added.
Velasco has
said Leviste was feigning illness to avoid jail and that his claim
of being in a life-threatening situation due to his disease was a
“mere drama and charade.”
He asked the
Court to schedule the hearing on the urgent motion on March 14.
The
67-year-old Leviste was taken to the MMC on February 23 after
complaining of dropping blood pressure, poor eyesight and dizziness.
His doctors said he was suffering from “hypovolemic shock
secondary to gastrointestinal bleeding and transient ischemic
attack” or a minor stroke.
It was the
second time that he was brought to hospital, the first coming a few
hours after the shooting of de las Alas, when he complained of
high-blood pressure.
Doctors said
he was suffering from hypertension and cardio-vascular disease.
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