Valenzuela Regional Trial Court has released arrest warrants for Allied Care Experts (ACE) Medical Center's high-ranking officials.
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The ACE Medical Center's employees have been accused of illegally detaining their patient's relatives in a scheme authorities have called "palit-ulo" [swapping heads].
The palit-ulo scheme forces relatives who are looking after patients to seek out someone else to substitute for them and stay within hospital premises before they are permitted to leave.
In one case, a woman and her premature baby were kept in the hospital for more than a month.
In another, a man was admitted to the hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU) but died and ran up a bill of P518,519.37. His wife was not allowed to leave, even to simply buy food, much less to secure the needed funds. She remained in the ICU for nearly three days, closely watched by security guards.
The officials have been charged with grave coercion, which violates the Revised Penal Code.
The arrest warrants signed by Presiding Judge Marita Laqui Genilo were for Maria Cristina Eugenio, Raymond Masaganda, and Samuel de los Santos.
