As Pres. Gloria Arroyo ends her notoriously repressive 9-year term on June 30 this year, while keeping open her hold-over option, military-rule option and constitutional-change option to perpetuate herself in power, the Filipinos should expect an increase in the oppressive, violent, illegal and abusive operations and human rights violations of the dreaded Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which Pres. Arroyo has virtually converted into her own private army as the biggest warlord in the Philippines.
An example of the abovementioned scenario is the recent mass arrest of 43 innocent and hardworking pro bono doctors, nurses and health workers attending a routine health conference in the semi-urbanized town of Morong, Rizal near Metro Manila.
The AFP had accused and tagged them as violent and armed top communist rebels allegedly holding a “mass convention, corporate workshop and team-building seminar “ to effect a violent downfall of the Philippine government -- a preposterous and ridiculous charge as far as intelligent and thinking Filipinos are concerned.
There seems to be validity in the claim of the victims that their human rights were violated in the form of warrantless search and seizure, mental and physical torture, and the filing of fabricated criminal cases against them for alleged illegal possession of firearms, ammunitions and explosives by the AFP in conspiracy with the assigned investigating prosecutors and with the tacit consent of their partisan bosses in the politicized Department of Justice.
A routine tactic of abusive soldiers and policemen since the martial-law regime of deposed ex-dictator Ferdinand Marcos is to urgently arrest and detain innocent suspects by planting evidence of alleged unlicensed firearms, ammunitions and explosives (of which the law enforcers have ample unrecorded supplies) and by using old warrants of arrest directed against unidentified communists dubbed only as "John Does and Jane Does" to give a color of authority to their illegal operations.
I have gathered below a few published articles on the above-mentioned matter, for legal research purposes of the visitors of this blog. (For updates, visit www.inquirer.net).
United Nations and US Department of State country reports have classified the Philippines as one of the worst countries in the world in terms of state-sanctioned intentional violations of international covenants on civil, political, social and economic rights of its citizens, a situation which had become more pronounced and more violent under the oppressive and paranoid reign of Pres. Arroyo and her unthinking and neurotic Cabinet-level security cluster.
The arrested health workers have filed a habeas corpus petition with the Supreme Court which had ordered the Court of Appeals to receive evidence on the petition. It is still pending as of now. Meanwhile, the health workers are detained in a military camp in Tanay, Rizal.
Addendum: The AFP’s army headquarters has awarded the two arresting colonels for "exemplary performance". What a stupid thing to do. Only in the Philippines.
Health workers tortured–CHR
By Alcuin Papa
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:22:00 02/10/2010
MANILA, Philippines—The head of the Commission on Human Rights has accused the military of subjecting to “psychological torture” the 43 health workers who were arrested in Morong, Rizal, last Saturday on suspicion that they were communists.
“They are continuously handcuffed and blindfolded, they are not allowed to sleep, they are not allowed to feed themselves. Even when they use the bathroom, someone else is there to take off their underwear,” said CHR Chair Leila de Lima.
Blindfolding is a form of mental or psychological torture under the Anti-Torture Act, or Republic Act 9745, said De Lima who led a CHR team in interviewing the detainees at Camp Capinpin, Tanay, Rizal, on Monday.
Right to counsel denied
She said the health workers were denied the right to counsel despite their repeated demands for a lawyer during interrogation.
Dr. Geneve E. Rivera, secretary general of the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) nongovernment organization, who was with De Lima, also confirmed the allegations of torture.
She said the detainees told them the military has been “torturing” them since their arrest last Saturday in the Morong resort owned by Dr. Melecia Velmonte attending a training seminar on public health. The military alleged they were members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) planning destabilization campaigns.
“Based on accounts of the detainees, the [Armed Forces] subjected them to various forms of torture and sexual harassment,” said Rivera.
They were handcuffed and blindfolded for more than 36 hours and were also denied food and bathroom privileges, she said.
Rivera said the detainees were confined in dark cells and forced to listen to sounds of gunfire. They were not allowed to speak to each other and were slapped around every night. The detainees were also forced to admit that they were NPA members.
Sore arms and wrists
“One of the detained men already had sore arms and wrists from being tied down for so long,” added Rivera.
She said that Dr. Alex Montes, whom the military has accused of being a member of a special NPA unit sent to kill retired general Jovito Palparan, was electrocuted and repeatedly hit on the chest while being questioned.
The pain was so unbearable that after several hours of taking the brutal punishment the 62-year-old Montes was willing to admit to anything, she said.
Rivera said that family members, when they were finally allowed to see the detainees last Monday, were taunted by a certain Col. Aurelio Baladad who called them “paid actors who are not really relatives of the detained.”
The workers’ families and the Community Medicine Development Foundation, the organizers of the seminar, have filed a habeas corpus petition with the Supreme Court, asking the high court to compel the military to bring the detainees before a judge or court, and to protect them against illegal punishment.
Abuse of discretion and authority
Named respondents in the petition were Armed Forces Chief Gen. Victor Ibrado, Philippine National Police Chief Director General Jesus Verzosa, Philippine Army Commander Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit, Army 2nd Infantry Division chief Gen. Jorge Segovia, 202nd Infantry Brigade Commander Col. Aurelio Baladad, and Rizal PNP chief Supt. Marion Balonglong.
At the Senate, Sen. Pia Cayetano, chair of the committee on social justice, Tuesday filed a resolution seeking a Senate inquiry into the “abuse of discretion and authority” of the military and police who arrested the health workers. With Norman Bordadora, Nikko Dizon and Christine Avendaño
See:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100210-252320/Health-workers-tortured%E2%80%93-CHR
Military defies SC on 43
AFP fails to present detainees
By Norman Bordadora
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:14:00 02/13/2010
DESPITE A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS issued by the Supreme Court, the military and the police failed to present before the Court of Appeals Friday the 43 health workers arrested on Feb. 6 on suspicion of being members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).
Col. Aurelio Baladad, the representative of the military at the habeas corpus hearing, told the appellate court that there was no time to coordinate security measures for the health workers’ transfer from Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, to Manila.
Associate Justice Normandie Pizarro said the “essence” of the writ was “immediacy,” and that the failure of the respondent military and police officers to comply with the Supreme Court’s order might set a dangerous precedent on how habeas corpus orders would be dealt with in the future.
“You are the biggest armed group in the country. That is your job. That is your problem. You have to produce the living bodies,” Pizarro told Baladad.
The First Division chaired by acting Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Portia Alino-Hormachuelos is hearing the habeas corpus case. The other member aside from Pizarro is Associate Justice Francisco Acosta.
Asked to explain the noncompliance with the high court’s order that the 43 detainees be presented to the appellate court on Friday, Baladad said the military received a copy of the directive issued on Wednesday only on Thursday.
“They are high-risk…,” he said of the detainees. “It takes time to arrange security.”
Charges filed
The “Morong 43”—including 62-year-old Dr. Alex Montes and Dr. Merry Mia-Clamor—were taking part in a health training seminar at a rest house in Morong, Rizal, on Feb. 6 when a military and police team raided the premises and arrested them.
The raiders claimed to have found explosives at the seminar venue and accused
the health workers of being NPA members.
The Health Alliance for Democracy and the Community Medicine Development Foundation, of which many of the health workers are members, have said that they were held incommunicado from Feb. 6 to Feb. 8. There were also allegations of sexual harassment and even torture.
Assistant Solicitor General Renan Ramos yesterday told the appellate court that appropriate charges were filed against the health workers on Thursday.
“The proper remedy is a motion to quash,” Ramos said, indicating that the habeas corpus case no longer applied to the case of the health workers.
But Pizarro said the spirit of the law on the writ of habeas corpus was in part to immediately present the subjects of the petition and show “whether they are still complete.”
“The essence of the writ is immediacy. It might send the wrong signal that in the future, we may not produce the bodies [of the subjects of the writ] for the reason that they have yet to coordinate with the [Philippine National Police for security measures],” Pizarro said.
“I just could not let this pass,” he said.
No contempt citation
Nonetheless, the appellate court’s First Division ruled to reset the hearing on Monday, with a guarantee from the lawyers of the Office of the Solicitor General and the military that the 43 health workers would be presented then.
But there was no citation for contempt, and the health workers’ lawyers did not seek it.
Longtime human rights lawyer Romeo Capulong, one of the members of the defense panel, instead asked that the health workers be released if the appellate court would reset the hearing.
“Right now, their rights are being violated,” Capulong told the appellate court in reference to the health workers’ continued detention despite the Supreme Court’s order.
Capulong later told reporters that his motion for the release of the detainees upon the resetting of the hearing was tantamount to asking the court to cite the respondents for contempt.
“As you saw, the mood of the hearing was very tame ... Ganun na rin ’yon (It amounts to that),” Capulong said of his motion for the detainees’ release.
Character assassination
Baladad explained that the sheer number of the detained health workers required certain precautions for their transportation from the military camp to the Court of Appeals.
“Some of them have participated in armed encounters,” he added in stressing the need for tight security for the transfer.
But Capulong told Baladad off, saying the latter should not resort to “character assassination” and that the allegation was “utterly false.”
Capulong asked the court to strike Baladad’s remarks from the record, but was told that his request would be taken “under advisement.”
A number of lawmakers attended the hearing, along with the lawyers, relatives and friends of the health workers.
Sen. Ma. Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal, an independent presidential candidate, was present, as were Representatives Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza of the party-list groups Bayan Muna and Gabriela, who are both senatorial candidates of the Nacionalista Party (NP).
‘Barbaric’ acts
Madrigal, who chairs the Senate committee on peace, said she was planning to visit the 43 health workers at Camp Capinpin this weekend.
In a statement, she condemned the “acts of torture” purportedly committed on them as “barbaric,” and said being a member or supporter of the NPA was “not an excuse to torture a person.”
“Even assuming that the Armed Forces has evidence on these health workers, they still have civil and political rights which must be respected,” she said.
Madrigal called on the military leadership to look into the allegations of torture.
“I have noticed as well that there seems to be a rise in the military clampdown on so-called Left-leaning individuals and people’s organizations,” she said, adding:
“Why is this being done during the election period? Is this an attempt to prevent the victory of genuine people’s candidates and party-list groups in the [May elections]?”
Officers violated law
In his own statement, Ocampo said the ordeal suffered by the 43 health workers in the hands of the military was in itself a form of torture.
“It’s barbaric, inhumane and against the law,” he said, and called for the immediate relief of the officers and men involved in the “abduction” of the health workers.
“There is no defending or justifying this. The AFP officers and personnel violated Republic Act No. 9745, the Anti-Torture Act. Regardless of the false charges the AFP is making against the 43 health workers, to subject the civilians to various forms of psychological and physical torture is barbaric,” he said.
Ocampo is the main author of RA 9745, which was enacted on Nov. 10, 2009.
“The AFP simply violated this law, among others. [The health workers’] illegal detention, blindfolding, interrogation, threatening, and other acts against the Morong 43 are clearly defined as forms of torture in Section 4 of RA 9745,” Ocampo said.
“Criminal cases against the AFP officials and soldiers who participated in the abduction, illegal detention and torture of the health workers must be immediately initiated by the Department of Justice,” he said.
Ocampo also called on the government to immediately release the health workers and drop all charges against them.
‘Help, not harass’
Sen. Loren Legarda, the NP’s vice presidential candidate and chair of the Senate committee on health, joined the call for the prosecution of the arresting team.
“I express my deep concern for the health workers who, according to the CHR (Commission on Human Rights), were abused or tortured psychologically by the apprehending authorities,” Legarda said at a press conference.
“I put more importance on barangay health workers, community-based health workers, those who do outreach in the villages, but became victims of military harassment and even accused as NPA rebels. We should not harass them, but help them. We should not torture them. We should teach them and assist them,” she said.
Legarda called on the CHR to investigate the authorities involved, and if evidence is found, to file the necessary charges.
Evidence
The late dictator’s son and namesake weighed in on the case of the arrested health workers.
At a campaign sortie Friday in Tanza, Cavite, Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., an NP senatorial candidate, said the military and police should have enough evidence to keep the health workers in detention.
“There are always two sides to a case. We have to look at both sides and study ... the evidence, the basis of this arrest, and see if [it’s] sufficient. But if it is not, they should be set free,” Marcos Jr. told reporters.
Thousands of activists disappeared without a trace or were tortured and killed during martial law period under Marcos Jr.’s father.
To this day, the kin of the martial law victims, including Satur Ocampo, continue to seek compensation from the Marcoses.
With reports from Jerry E. Esplanada, Michael Lim Ubac and Nikko Dizon and Alcuin Papa
See:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100213-252912/Military-defies-SC-on-43
SC to AFP: Present 43 health workers
By Norman Bordadora, Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:45:00 02/12/2010
THE SUPREME COURT on Thursday ordered the military and police to present Friday to the Court of Appeals the 43 health workers arrested on Feb. 6 in Morong, Rizal.
The high court’s First Division issued the resolution in response to the petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed on Monday by the relatives and colleagues of the health workers, who were taken at gunpoint from a health training seminar and detained at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.
The hearing, scheduled at 2:30 p.m., is to be conducted by the appellate court’s First Division led by acting Presiding Justice Portia Hormachuelos.
The health workers were arrested for suspected links with the communist New People’s Army (NPA). The military and police held a press conference yesterday in Taytay, Rizal, to back this suspicion.
The Supreme Court directed the Court of Appeals to provide an appropriate venue in view of the big number of persons to be presented.
It also required the respondent officers led by Gen. Victor Ibrado, the Armed Forces chief of staff, and Director General Jesus Verzosa of the Philippine National Police to explain the detention of the health workers.
“The court finds that the requisites for the application of the writ are present,” the tribunal’s First Division said in its resolution.
“The petition was signed and verified by relatives and the secretary of the Community Medicine Development Foundation on behalf of the 43 who are
restrained of their liberty,” it added.
Among the arrested health workers detained at Camp Capinpin are two doctors—Alex Montes and Merry Mia Clamor.
‘Ka Beloy’
In the press conference at Camp Geronimo in Taytay, a man claiming to be an NPA member in Bulacan said he and the 42 others arrested in Morong were part of the guerrilla movement, and a police officer identified two of them as among the rebels who abducted and held him hostage for almost three months in 2009.
Valentino Paulino—or “Ka Beloy,” as he introduced himself—and Insp. Rex Cuntapay were among the witnesses presented by the military and police to justify the detention of the 43 health workers arrested on Feb. 6.
“My comrades are still detained in the camp ... so I would like to ask your assistance to help them return to the fold of the law,” Paulino told reporters.
Cuntapay said he and his team were ambushed at noon on Jan. 3, 2009, in Barangay Macabud, Rodriguez town, by a group of NPA rebels, killing PO1 Erickson Aquino.
Among the arrested health workers, he pinpointed two women—Linda Otañez and Pearl Irene Martinez—as part of the NPA group that held him captive for 83 days.
“Our patrol vehicle ran over a land mine last year... Our driver was killed, two others were seriously wounded,” Cuntapay said.
He said Police Officers 1 Alberto dela Cruz and Marvin Agasen were also held hostage for nearly three months.
Police personnel assigned to the municipal station in San Narciso in the Bondoc Peninsula also took turns in naming the purported guerrillas who posed as journalists before raiding the police post on Dec. 20, 2009.
Among those identified were Otanez, Aldrin Garcia, Edwin Detera, Antonio de Dios, Reynaldo Macabenta and Mark Escartin.
‘Concoctions’
Relatives and colleagues said the 43 arrested health workers were tortured and kept in handcuffs and blindfolds for more than 36 hours at Camp Capinpin.
Maj. Gen. Jorge Segovia, chief of the 2nd Infantry Division, told reporters that these claims were “the first salvo of propaganda” meant to discredit the Feb. 6 operation.
He said it was expected that the NPA would not “take it sitting down” as it was the biggest arrest of communist guerrillas by security forces in recent history.
“This is a big blow to them, so they will concoct every kind of story,” Segovia said.
A joint team from the military and police arrested the 43 health workers during a raid on a rest house owned by Dr. Melecia Velmonte, an expert in infectious diseases, in Morong.
The raiding team claimed to find a number of firearms and explosives in the rest house.
Seven criminal cases were yesterday filed in court against the 43, State Prosecutor Romeo Senson said.
Senson said 40 were charged with illegal possession of explosives with no bail recommended.
He said the rest, who purportedly acted as guards, were slapped with bailable charges of violation of the gun ban imposed by the Commission on Elections, and illegal possession of firearms.
As for Velmonte, Senson surmised that the doctor was outside her rest house when the arrests were made, which was why she could not be charged with any of the three crimes.
“Although, of course, that is still under investigation,” he said.
See:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100212-252705/SC-to-AFP-Present-43-health-workers
Criminal raps filed vs 43 health workers
They’re NPA, government troops insist
By Abigail Kwok, Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 13:28:00 02/11/2010
CAMP GERONIMO, Rizal – The Department of Justice has filed a criminal case against 43 health workers who were allegedly arrested by the military as government troops insisted that they were members of the New People’s Army.
State Prosecutor Romeo Senson said charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives and violation of the Commission on Elections gun ban were filed before the regional trial court here and no bail was recommended.
The 43 were arrested while undergoing community health training inside the property owned by one Doctor Melecia Velmonte.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police presented Thursday before media Valentino Paulino, alias Ka Reloy, who admitted that he was a member of the NPA in Bulacan, Central Luzon.
Paulino even appealed to other members of the rebel group, saying "Sana matulungan sila na magbalik-loob sa gobyerno [I hope they can be guided to return to the fold of the law]."
The charges against the suspects were filed after several firearms and bomb-making components were seized from them at Barangay (village) Maybangcal, Morong town, said Major General Jorge Segovia, commanding general of the 2nd Infantry Division.
The police presented "witnesses" that tagged some of those arrested as responsible for some of the atrocities committed in the region.
Police said two of those arrested were among those who ambushed and abducted members of the 418th provincial mobile group in Rodriguez last Jan. 3, 2009.
One of the kidnap victims, Senior Inspector Rex Cuntapay, positively identified two as Linda Reyes Otanes and Pearl Irene Martinez.
The policemen were held by the NPA for 83 days.
See:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20100211-252596/Criminal-raps-filed-vs-43-health-workers
Madrigal slams AFP for giving awards to ‘Morong 43’ jailers
By Jerry E. Esplanada
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 15:44:00 02/23/2010
MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal slammed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for deciding to confer awards on two officers who led the military operation against the 43 health workers suspected of being communist rebels.
Madrigal, an independent presidential candidate, joined on Tuesday militant groups and legislators in criticizing the military's allegedly “arrogant behavior” towards the so-called "Morong 43."
“It is an insult to human rights victims and a clear case of arrogant conduct on the part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” Madrigal said.
Madrigal pointed out “the arrest of the 43 health workers is still being questioned in the Court of Appeals. It is also being investigated by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), the Red Cross and other international groups.”
Madrigal said, “This is what happens when the military considers itself above civilian jurisdiction and even our courts of law.”
The senator has scheduled a visit to the health workers at Camp Capinpin, in Tanay, Rizal, on Tuesday.
Renato Reyes, Bayan secretary-general, described as “self-serving” the AFP move, which he said was “meant to cover up the AFP's liability" in the illegal arrest and detention, as well as the torture of the "Morong 43.”
Reyes called the awards "a hollow counter-move to the snowballing public opinion in support of the 43 health workers.”
“We vow to block any future promotions for these officers, including Gen. Jorge Segovia, Col. Aurelio Balalad (commander of the Army's 202nd Brigade) and Col. Jaime Abawag (commander of the 16th Infantry Battalion). Complaints of human rights abuses will also be filed against them this week before the CHR,” Reyes added.
Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino said "The arresting team was accused of illegal arrest and torture, among others. Is the military honor an attempt to legitimize, justify and reward illegal acts?”
For the young legislator, “It should be the 43 health workers who should be honored by government for choosing to stay in the country and for volunteering in communities.”
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo noted “despite clear evidence that the Morong 43 are genuine health workers, the AFP insists they are New People's Army members and alleged Communist Party of the Philippines leaders at that.”
“It isn't surprising that they claim the arrests as a major military gain to defeat the NPA this year. Hence, awarding medals to the officers who led the (Morong, Rizal) operations is aimed at projecting this fake feat,” Ocampo said.
Meanwhile, the Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based OFW group Migrante-Middle East (M-ME) said the AFP move was “not surprising at all.”
“The Arroyo regime has been giving rewards to its faithful violators of human rights and civil liberties, like General Jovito “The Butcher” Palparan,” said M-ME regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona.
Monterona added such “dishonorable awards” only promote the prevailing culture of impunity that may even escalate into violence in the coming nationals elections.
See:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100223-254915/Madrigal-slams-AFP-for-giving-awards-to-Morong-43-jailers
