Gawad Kalinga founder moved to Bulacan jail

CITY OF MALOLOS, Bulacan—Gawad Kalinga founder Antonio Meloto, 76, is now at the Bulacan Provincial Jail here after a local court denied his petition for hospital arrest in connection with qualified trafficking charges.

Bulacan Provincial Jail Warden Enrico Vargas said Meloto was brought to the facility on June 17 after the Bulacan Regional Trial Court Branch 76, which issued his arrest warrant, denied his counsel’s petition to allow hospital arrest.

READ: Gawad Kalinga founder still in hospital, pleaded not guilty in cases

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Meloto, he said, is placed in isolation considering his age. However, he said, Meloto is treated like an ordinary inmate.

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“We can not give any special treatment to anyone that could be a subject for scrutiny by other inmates,” Vargas told the Inquirer.

On June 16, Meloto was arraigned and pleaded not guilty.

Meloto is charged with two counts of qualified trafficking in persons filed on Sept. 10, 2025, by his two male scholars in Gawad Kalinga. The court had not set any bail.

The Gawad Kalinga founder is suffering from psoriasis and hypertension.

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A source from his camp earlier told the Inquirer that Meloto had left Gawad Kalinga in 2017 for treatment abroad for his psoriasis and returned recently to resume the foundation’s operations.

He was arrested at the Gawad Kalinga base in Enchanted Farm in Angat town on May 29 and placed inside the Angat police detention cell. He was later brought and confined at Dr. Yanga’s Hospital in Bocaue. After more than a week, he was transferred to Bulacan Medical Center.

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Meloto is an internationally known social entrepreneur and a multi-awarded non-governmental organization leader./coa

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