Kin of 43 health workers go to SC

MANILA, Philippines—Relatives and colleagues of 43 people, including two doctors, a nurse and a midwife, are set to file petitions for writs of amparo and of habeas corpus before the Supreme Court on Monday for what they called illegal arrests of the health workers by a joint team of the military and police in Morong, Rizal.

The military said it rounded up the health workers on Saturday because of their alleged links with the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

“We will file a case for them (the authorities) to produce and release our relatives,” Roneo S. Clamor, husband of Merry Mia, one of the doctors taken into custody, said on Sunday at a press conference in Quezon City. Clamor is the deputy secretary general of the human rights watchdog Karapatan.

A writ of amparo is a special legal instrument issued by the Supreme Court to protect people whose rights have been violated by government activities or acts of omission. A writ of habeas corpus is used to require a person to be brought before a judge or court, and to protect him or her against illegal imprisonment.

The health workers were arrested in a rest house owned by Dr. Melencia Velmonte while they were taking part in a health-training seminar, according to seminar organizers.

Velmonte is a consultant at Philippine General Hospital for infectious diseases and professor emeritus at the College of Medicine of the University of the Philippines.

The seminar participants were seized by members of the 2nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police.

Dr. Geneve Rivera, chair of the Health Alliance for Democracy, said it had already been past 24 hours since the mass arrest but the military refused to show any of the health workers to their relatives and colleagues.

Rivera said her group would file the petitions for the issuance of the writs of amparo and habeas corpus in the Supreme Court on Monday.

“We’ve stayed here outside Camp Capinpin (the military camp in Tanay, Rizal, where the 43 are detained) and they have not shown us any sign that they are OK,” she said.

Rivera also said her group lost contact with all the 43 after the military confiscated all the mobile phones of the seminar participants.

CHR denied entry

Also refused entry into the camp were investigators of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

“That’s an affront to our institution and a disrespect to our mandate. Our visitorial powers are expressly guaranteed in the Constitution. We will lodge a formal protest with the AFP leadership,” CHR Chair Leila de Lima said in a text message to reporters.

Officers of the organizers of the seminar—Council for Health and Development (CHD) and Community Medicine Development Foundation (CMDF)—said the participants were not making explosives.

“CHD denies the claim of the military that the participants were undergoing bomb-making training,” said the CHD executive director, Dr. Eleanor A. Jara.

Health-skills training

Jara said the participants were holding a first responders’ health skills seminar aimed at facilitating the exchange of knowledge and skills of health professionals and community health workers to develop their capacities in providing health care services to the poorest of the poor.

Dr. Conor Jan Montes, a son of Dr. Alex Montes, 60, a lecturer at the seminar and one of those taken into custody, lashed out at the government for his father’s arrest.

“My father just wants to help those people in far-flung areas to be given medical care by training volunteers. Instead of the government being grateful, this is what he gets for doing charity work,” the son said after the press conference.

The young Montes said he and his 18-year-old brother, Christian, drove to Camp Capinpin on Saturday evening after they learned about their father’s arrest, but were just ignored by soldiers at the gate.

“Me and my family are outraged at the injustice and harassment they do to my father who is just doing what the government should be doing,” the young Montes said.

He said his father had been doing charity consultations all these years. “He loved to share his knowledge for the poor, and he was just doing it again—teaching health workers what to do as first respondent to a medical situation.”

He said his father was not a member of the NPA.

Respondents

Named respondents in the petition for a writ of habeas corpus were Brig. Gen. Jorge Segovia, chief of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division; Col. Aurelio Baladad, commandeer of the Army’s 202nd Infantry Brigade; and Supt. Marion Balonglong of the Rizal PNP.

The 43 health workers have been continuously deprived by respondents of their right to counsel, according to the petition. It says relatives, lawyers, medical doctors and human rights defenders have been prevented from visiting or conferring privately with the health workers in Camp Capinpin.

“All the 43 men and women of the medical profession are detained and deprived of their liberty by respondents, without any lawful cause and in utter disregard and violation of their constitutional rights,” the petition added,

Jara said the doctors, nurse and community health workers were frisked, blindfolded and forcibly taken by at least 300 armed soldiers and loaded onto six- by-six vehicles and in unmarked cars.

The CHD director also lamented that the health workers were among those serving in remote areas where government personnel and services were lacking or simply nonexistent.

“As thousands of Filipino health workers are driven away from the country because of lack of enough opportunities, the government terrorizes the very few who chose to stay and serve their fellow citizens,” Jara said.

Among those who took part in the seminar and are now believed to be in military custody are Dr. Merry-Mia Clamor, Dr. Alex Montes, nurse Gary Liberal, midwife Teresa Quinawayan, and community health workers Lydia Obera, Reynaldo Macabenta, Angela Doloricon, Delia Ocasla, Janice Javier, Franco Remoroso, Ailene Monasteryo, Pearl Irene Martinez and Elen Carandang.

In a statement, the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said the CHD doctors and health professionals were at the “forefront of relief efforts” when Typhoons “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” devastated large parts of the country last year.

Search warrant vague

“The search warrant was very vague. It should have stated the name and address of Dr. Velmonte, because she is the owner of the house,” Rivera said.

But the military, in an earlier statement, said the search warrant was against a certain Mario Condes of Barangay Maybangcal, Morong.

“All evidence they (military) claimed they recovered are inadmissible because the warrant and the arrest were flawed,” Rivera added.

But the military maintained that the arrest was legal.

“We cannot present the 43 because it might spoil the ongoing investigation,” said Lt. Celeste Frank Sayson, chief of the Public Affairs Office of the Army’s 2nd ID.

“It’s their right if they want to file charges but we have evidence to support their connection to the underground (movement). As our commander said, we are 101-percent sure (they are members of the NPA),” Sayson quoted Segovia as saying.

Rivera said Montes of the CMDF and Clamor of the CHD were medical practitioners in the countryside.

“Contrary to allegations made by Col. Aurelio Baladbad of the 202nd Infantry Brigade, the people they are holding are longtime medical personnel who are well-known to their patients and the communities they serve,” Rivera said.

Rivera said Montes, Clamor, Liberal and Quinawayan were conducting the training when soldiers arrested them. –Nancy C. Carvajal, Maricar Cinco, Nikko Dizon, Inquirer Southern Luzon with reports from Norman Bordadora; and Karen Lapitan, Inquirer Southern Luzon