(UPDATED as of May 9 at 12:36 p.m.) Peasant leader Joseph Canlas has been admitted in an intensive care unit (ICU) room, Sunday morning. Initial laboratory findings showed that he is suffering from acute respiratory failure possibly secondary to COVID-19.
Canlas’s daughter, Jen, made the announcement through Facebook at around 9:25 a.m. that his father has already been accorded a slot in the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital in San Fernando, Pampanga.
In a statement, the Free Joseph Canlas and Pol Viuya Network reported that Canlas remains responsive and has already been intubated with an nasogastric tube (NGT) catheter. His Type 2 Diabetes and Stage 2 Hypertension was treated as well.
Canlas, 59 years old, was rushed to the Ospital Ning Angeles, on the night of May 8, after experiencing breathing difficulties and speech stutters the afternoon of the same day.
“The heat of May, the stress of having the possibility of acquiring COVID-19, the stress and anxiety from being maliciously charged with trumped up charges by basis of planted evidences—these may have taken a toll on the already frail health condition of 59 years old Joseph Canlas,” the network said in an earlier statement, May 8.
He has been previously a suspect case of COVID-19 after a fellow inmate tested positive for the virus. Canlas, however, finished his quarantine inside the jail on April 30 and did not test positive for the virus.
Prior to his arrest, Canlas was the vice-chairperson of the peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and the chairperson of its Central Luzon affiliate, Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon. He was arrested on March 30 due to malicious mischief and illegal possession of firearms, a police report said.
He was arrested by virtue of a search warrant issued by Judge Jeovannie Ordoo, presiding judge of Regional Trial Court Branch 109 in Capas, Tarlac on March 29. Shortly after his arrest, KMP slammed Canlas’s arrest, adding that the evidence recovered from him was planted by authorities, which is often the case for arrested activists.
Canlas was arrested along with labor leader Florentino Viuya and paralegal May Arcilla on separate raids on the same day. Arcilla has since been released from detention. ●
