Former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea was picked up by an ambulance from the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague, Netherlands, where former president Rodrigo Duterte is currently being detained while awaiting trial for the crimes against humanity of murder charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Senator Robin Padilla shares this photo of former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea being wheeled out of the International Criminal Court detention facility in The Hague, Netherlands on Tuesday, March 18, 20205. (Photo from Sen. Padilla's Facebook page)
According to the Philippine Embassy in The Netherlands, Medialdea went to the ICC Detention Center on Tuesday morning, March 18 (Netherlands time), for a scheduled visit to Duterte when the incident happened.
"While registering at the reception counter at around 8: 55 a.m., Atty. Medialdea fell ill. An embassy official, who accompanied him to the detention center, immediately called for medical attention, which was provided by a detention center medic," it said in a statement.
"An ambulance was called which brought Atty. Medialdea to a Hague area hospital where he is currently receiving treatment," it said, noting that a close relative accompanied him at the hospital.
The former executive secretary, who was with Duterte in the chartered flight to The Hague after he was arrested last March 11, is part of the legal team defending the former president in his ICC charges.
A GMA Integrated News video showed the ambulance leaving the detention facility.
In a Facebook post, Senator Robin Padilla posted a photo of Medialdea on a wheelchair.
“Ang Tunay na magkaibigan Magkakabit ang bituka at magkadugtong ang kaluluwa (True friends are bound at the gut and their souls are connected),” the senator, who was reportedly in the ambulance along with Medialdea to stand as his guardian, wrote.
Padilla is in The Hague as the president of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), Duterte’s political party.
In a Facebook Live, Padilla said that Medialdea has collapsed three times, among these were at the airport, hotel, and ICC detention center since he arrived in The Hague.
In the latest update given by the embassy, it said that Medialdea was already "brought to and is now in a regular hospital room" after he received treatment at the hospital emergency room.