Military hit for unlawful arrest of health workers

02/09/2010

The military is under fire for refusing to grant the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) access to 43 health workers — among them doctors, nurses and midwives — who were arrested last Saturday in Morong town, Rizal province, after they were suspected to be New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.

“This is a blatant violation of human rights and their right to counsel, both guaranteed under the 1987 Constitution,” United Opposition (UNO) president and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay said.

“Is this a throwback to the dictatorship when even the quick response team (QTR) of the CHR, or even relatives of the arrested are not permitted to check on their condition?” he asked.

Binay, a human rights lawyer and activist during martial law, condemned the military for raiding the rest house of Dr. Melencia Velmonte where a seminar for health services was being conducted.

The 43 health workers were undergoing training by the health NGO Community Health Development (CHD) when around 300 soldiers belonging to the Army’s 202nd Infantry Brigade under Col. Aurelio Baladad barged in and conducted a raid.

Dr. Velmonte, a 71-year-old consultant of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH), even lectured on infectious diseases before the 43 persons who participated in the training.

Binay asked Maj. Gen. Jorge Segovia, head of the 2nd Infantry Division (2ID), to comply with the law and allow the CHR and lawyers to visit the detainees or simply release them on account of the patently illegal actions of his subordinates.

According to reports, the raiders, in possession of bogus search and arrest warrants, were fully armed when they barged into the resthouse Dr. Velmonte and proceeded to threaten, blindfold and frisk the participants who accused them of participating in a training session on the manufacture of land mines and other improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The mayor, who is running for vice president under the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), described the military operation as “overkill” and said it betrayed the administration’s fondness for making arrests based on trumped-up charges.

“Even the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) has attested to the validity of the health skills training, so how come they are still insisting that their operation was legal? Is it because they do not want to admit that they made an error and become a laughingstock?” Binay asked.

“This speaks of harassment, pure and simple. The sad part is that the defenseless and the innocent are the ones who always fall prey to this type of treatment,” he said.

Sen. Pia Cayetano, for her part, said the 202nd Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces should be made accountable for violating the rights of the 43 health personnel.

“The military’s refusal to grant access to the health workers’ relatives, lawyers and even the quick-reaction team of the CHR is a clear violation of their constitutional rights to liberty and presumption of innocence until proven otherwise. This act should not be tolerated by the Arroyo regime,” she added.

The senator also called on the military to produce all 43 health workers and face the CHR and the courts.

The military claimed that the raiders were able to seize handguns, grenades, claynore mines, blasting caps and other paraphernalia, including campaign materials of the Bayan Muna partylist, backpacks, cellular phones and other personal belongings during the assault.

But Dr. Velmonte, HEAD and even the human rights watchdog Karapatan and Bayan Muna have insisted the only “weapons” the doctors, midwives and health workers had were syringes, medicines, stethoscopes and other diagnostic equipment.

Charlie V. Manalo

Back to top

For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph
The Daily Tribune © 2006