The National Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday said it is readying additional charges of direct assault with frustrated murder and attempted murder against road rage murder suspect Jason Ivler, who traded shots with government agents before he was arrested in his house in Quezon City Monday morning.

The NBI also said it is considering the transfer of Ivler, who was wounded during the gunfight along with two NBI agents, from the government-run Quirino Memorial Medical Center to another hospital for security reasons and to provide him better facilities.

“The NBI and Ivler’s mother Marlene Aguilar have talked about the matter. The mother said she is so concerned for her son and she wants to transfer him to a better facility. The NBI wants that the new hospital is just near but no specific hospital yet,” said head agent Ross Bautista, executive officer of the NBI Office of Intelligence Services.

At least four NBI agents guard Ivler round-the-clock at the hospital.

Lawyer Angelito Magno, chief of the NBI Special Action Unit, said Ivler will be slapped with an additional charge of complex crime of direct assaults in violation Article 148 of the Revised Penal Code, and with violation of Article 248 for frustrated murder and attempted murder before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.

Bautista said the frustrated murder charge is in connection with the wounding of Special Investigator Anna Lira Labao and attempted murder for the wound inflicted on Magno during Ivler’s arrest.

Meanwhile, Bautista said the confirmatory test conducted on the suspected marijuana found from the house of Ivler and Aguilar yielded negative. “It is not marijuana. It is official,” he said.

Aguilar posted a P12,000 bail Tuesday night at the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) in connection with the obstruction of justice charge filed against her for misleading authorities as to the whereabouts of her son.

Also last Tuesday, Aguilar appealed to the United States Embassy for help, claiming the NBI has committed human rights violations against her son, an  American citizen who had served as a soldier in Iraq.

“I am calling the US Embassy. Jason is one of your soldiers who fought in Iraq…This is how they (Philippine authorities) treat your soldiers. Protect him and defend him,” she said.

Aguilar was with her husband, British diplomat Stephen Pollard, when she went to the hospital to visit Ivler Tuesday morning.

Aguilar cited TV footages showing that after Ivler was shot, agents pointed a gun at his face and kicked him in the abdomen where he was wounded. She said her son was dragged and thrown into a car outside their home like a pig.

Meanwhile, a hospital official showed a letter sent by the US Embassy requesting for assistance regarding Ivler, telling the hospital that as a matter of routine, it wants to visit and contact Ivler. The letter was signed by Michael Garrote of the Embassy’s American Citizen’s Services section.

For his part, NBI Deputy Director Rickson Chiong explained that only doctors and nurses are allowed to come close to Ivler at the hospital’s intensive care unit so as not to aggravate the condition of the suspect.(With a report from Mitch Arceo)