Beltran Rushed to PNP Hospital

Published on March 2, 2006

BY BULATLAT
Posted 4:00pm March 2, 2006

Anakpawis Rep. Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran, 73, suffered mild hypertension before noon today and is presently confined at the Philippine National Police General Hospital (PNP GH) inside Camp Crame compound in Quezon City.

PNP GH head nurse Maj. Geraldine Adaglao said the congressman was rushed to the emergency room at around 11:30 a.m. after he was monitored suffering from hypertension with a 170/100 blood pressure. He was transferred to Room 1 of the PNP GH at around 12:15 p.m.

In a press conference yesterday, Beltran’s wife Rosario called for her husband’s immediate release for health and humanitarian reasons.

Beltran’s physician, Dr. Melanie Hernandez-Sionzon, said the lawmaker occasionally experiences “recurrent dreams” and “flashbacks” of his imprisonment during Martial Law.

“He has post traumatic disorder caused by his detention during the Marcos time and that makes his stay in jail more difficult,” Sionzon said.

Beltran’s family urges the administration to at least transfer him to a hospital of their choice for him to get proper medical attention.

The congressman and veteran labor leader was arrested early morning Feb. 25 by virtue of a warrant in a 1985 case which his lawyers said was already dismissed. It signaled the start of a crackdown on the opposition after Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo put the country under a state of national emergency noon of Feb. 24.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) charged Beltran and five other progressive party-list solons of rebellion for allegedly conspiring with “military adventurists” to topple the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.

The five other congressmen have been under protective custody at the House of Representatives in Quezon City since Feb. 27. (Bulatlat.com)