THE wife of jailed provincial broadcaster Alexander Adonis has expressed fear for the safety of her husband after learning that the latter was illegally taken out of prison for a purported check-up on December 11.

In a letter to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Adonis’s wife Gladys recounted that his husband was taken out of the Davao Penal Colony (Dapecol) by prison personnel and brought him to the Davao Medical Center for an unscheduled check-up without notifying his family.

She stressed that her husband was surprised when he was brought to the said hospital considering that he was not sick at that time and he did not make any request for a check-up.

The broadcaster, according to Gladys, was even more puzzled to see members of the Davao media waiting for him at the hospital.

“This came as a total surprise for him and for us, his family, who were not even given a chance to accompany him or meet him at the hospital,” Gladys said.

Gladys said none of Adonis’s family members was notified by prison officials about the medical check-up.

However, Gladys said based on press reports from Davao, it was Lakas Rep. Prospero Nograles of Davao City, “who paid for the check-up of my husband who is allegedly suffering from tuberculosis.”

She added that news reports also said that it was Nograles who asked Bureau of Corrections director Ricardo Dapat to have Dapecol personnel escort Adonis to the hospital.

Gladys said she was upset by reports linking Nograles to her husband’s unauthorized check-up considering that it was the congressman who filed the libel case against Adonis.

“This incident only adds insult to the injury that my husband is now suffering following his conviction for the libel case the legislator filed against him ...” she said.

“It is already painful enough for us to see him incarcerated for nine months now when his crime was only to be too poor to hire a lawyer and he was convicted while his coaccused were cleared of the charges,” she added.

In January a court in Davao sentenced Adonis, 43, to five years and six months in jail after he failed to present his side on the libel case filed against him by Nograles in 2001.

Adonis said his inability to afford to pay for a lawyer has forced him to go into hiding.

The case stemmed from the reports and commentaries on the part of Adonis and other national reporters and broadcasters relative to the “Burlesque King’’ scandal.

Court records show that the reports tagged Nograles as the congressman allegedly seen running naked in a hotel in Manila after the husband of the legislator’s paramour caught them in bed.

“Although he was reportedly escorted by three to four personnel from the penal farm, I am afraid that something could happen to him during the travel … this has already happened in the past when prisoners were shot for allegedly trying to escape,” Gladys said as she asked Gonzalez to help ensure the safety of her husband.

53 more Magdalo members released

THE Armed Forces released from detention on Thursday 53 of the 54 noncore leaders of the Magdalo who have earlier admitted to the charges after President Arroyo commuted their seven-year sentence by one month, allowing them to spent the holidays with their families as free men—but civilians.

THE government will likely operate under a reenacted 2007 budget by January 1 owing to the failure of a bicameral conference committee to hammer out a consolidated final version of the P1.23- trillion spending bill for 2008 before the yearend.

THE wife of jailed provincial broadcaster Alexander Adonis has expressed fear for the safety of her husband after learning that the latter was illegally taken out of prison for a purported check-up on December 11.

THE environmental watchdog Eco Waste Coalition on Thursday renewed its campaign against the use of firecrackers and reminded the people of its hazardous effect to human and animal health, as well as the environment.

A LEGISLATOR has filed a bill mandating a total gun ban to address the spate of killings and violence in the country.

THE Ilusorio-Africa group, that constitutes one of the two boards of director of the government-sequestered Philippine Communications Satellite Corp., (Philcomsat) used mere letters signed by the former chairman of the Government Service Insurance System and the solicitor general to replace the presidential appointees in the Philcomsat group, belying its claim it represents the government in these corporations.