Wife asks SC to direct jail to produce Vic Ladlad

Fides Lim, the wife of peace consultant Vicente Ladlad, on Friday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to direct the Metro Manila District Jail to produce his body, saying his detention has become oppressive and unconstitutional. In a 26-page petition for a writ of habeas corpus, Lim on behalf of Ladlad asked the SC to issue a writ directing jail warden Mar Jan Mabunga to produce his body within 24 hours from receipt of the said writ. She also asked the SC to direct Mabunga to show cause for the alleged illegal restraint and continuing detention of Ladlad. “The humanitarian concerns arising from Vic’s advanced age and deteriorating health, together with the constitutional implications of his prolonged detention, present the same considerations that informed the Court’s disposition in those cases,” the petition read. Lim argued that the state, through the delay in his trial, directly contributed in the deterioration of his health. She said that at the time of his arrest, he was already 69 years old and was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and Hypertensive Cardiovascular disease. According to Lim, Ladlad also suffers from chronic asthma since childhood. Diseases such as COVID, pneumonia, and tuberculosis have also weakened him. “As of date of filing, Vic is now 77 years old. Since his arrest in 2018, his health has seriously deteriorated. He now has severe hearing loss in both ears, walks with a marked stoop, and has to stop and catch his breath every few steps,” the petition read. “Every day of delay has a corresponding physiological consequence on Vic. What is supposed to be mere detention may well soon turn into a death sentence,” it added. She also stressed that the state has repeatedly prosecuted her husband and the courts have repeatedly acquitted him. Lim also said that Ladlad’s trial is entering its eight year. “The petitioner begs this Court to consider: what protection does due process afford when an accused can be kept under detention for longer than the sentence he may serve? And what is the point of the ‘opportunity to be heard’ when every acquittal is immediately followed by a fresh set of indictments?” the petition read. — RSJ, GMA News