AFP defies Supreme Court

[7DMM]

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another commie propaganda!

[c_cebrecus]

lisud kaau maapil sa law enforcement dre oi.. masayop ka kasuhan dayun ka nya scandal pa jud na ug dating. sakto sad imong buhaton divided noon ang opinion sa mga tao pero kasuhan gihapon ka nya scandal ug dating sad. same sh*t

[salbahis]

sad but true, our justice system had been a bull$ht by those fu$&^$%kin neps.... it's the AFP who knows whos the red and whose not.... theyr'e on the frontline putting their, limbs and life on the line, if im the Chief of AFP i will defy the order, why?, theyr'e f^(kin reds why should i lot go of those bastards.....

[Bisayang_manok]

well it doesnt matter if NPA jud sila or dli....wat matters is dat the Supreme Court has given orders or issued an order to the AFP...which the AFP failed to obey...so unsay angay kahadlokan ana?! in the near future i.bali wla nlng ang mga order sa SC, like the writ of habeas corpus...any other agencies or bigtime cases could just give a loop-hole or lame excuses why wla nila na obey ang orders. mao na ang PILIPINAS nag lisod jud ug progress coz daghan kaayo ta ug laws but walay klaro ang implementation...not strictly implemented atong mga balaod...and dali ra kaayo ma lutsan ug mga palusot and lame excuses...

of course it does. Some of the workers were the prime suspects of the killings of murdered soldiers. This group does not play fair. They blend among civilians and hide their identity as health workers. Then they will hit you at the back. So why should we play fair to them?

when these guys are caught syagit dayun ug human rights, tsk tsk...samok samok lang ni sa katilingban.

[DeathFox]

kung si erap pa ning presidente, todas ning mga *****s 43.

[stjohnmedrano]

What happen to our AFP? klaro kaayo ni ba naa gyud gipang torture ani ba, AFP sila ilang alibi is lisod sila communicate for protection sa 43 ka health worker? so is this mean mag lisod pud sila ug protect nato?

i dont care if they are if npa's or not.

[yacky2006]

Pag parada or transport ani from tanay to manila daghan kaayo mga candidato naa sa kilid.

hehehehe

tan-awa kinsa ang nang comment or react ani. mga national candidates for 2010.

basin mao ni cla hinungdan wala ni tuman ang AFP.

according to the hisghest bidder ni colonel....?

[hulagway]

imagen Philippines without NEPS..what a wonderful Philippines,,

[DeathFox]

imagen Philippines without NEPS..what a wonderful Philippines,,

imagen Philippines without Filipinos.. what a wonderful paradise

[Jerry Michael]

A Doctor to the People, Hurt and Broken
Published on February 16, 2010

S O U R C E
Dr. Alex Montes is a retired surgeon. But even in retirement, he found time to serve the poor through the medical missions he organized and joined and through the trainings he conducted for community health workers and volunteers. Today, he is behind bars — abused, tortured and humiliated by a regime that is terrified by his passion.

By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Dr. Alex Montes, 62, is a retired surgeon but still an active medical practitioner who regularly joined medical missions and conducted trainings for health workers and volunteers.

It’s a vocation that springs not just from a lifelong passion for medicine but also from faith. “It was always in connection with his religious affiliation with the UCCP,” his niece, law student Carla Montes Rocas, 24, told Bulatlat, referring to the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, one of the Protestant religious denominations in the country.

“He’s a quiet person,” said Carla. As a religious family affiliated with the UCCP, Carla said they believe that God is not only found inside the Church but also among the people.

Dr. Montes took up his primary, secondary and pre-med schooling at the Silliman University in Dumaguete City. He became a surgeon at the UERM in Manila where he based himself since. He practiced medicine at different hospitals such as Bethany Hospital and Capitol Medical Center, “all of which are clearly legitimate hospitals,” Carla said.

[IMG]http://www.bulatlat.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/*****g43_CA0215_02.jpg[/IMG]
Dr. Alex Montes, handcuffed to a soldier, at the Court of Appeals (Photo by Janess Ann J. Ellao / bulatlat.com)

Although mainly practicing in private, Dr. Montes had often joined community-based health services, conducted seminars on health trainings, helped the “Doctor to the Barrios” program.

At times, Dr. Montes brought along some of his grown children to medical missions in needy communities where they treat sick residents and give out medicines. Some of his children are also doctors. Their side of the Montes family, said Carla, is composed mainly of doctors; Carla’s family is composed mostly of lawyers.

“Uncle Alex has been doing what he’s doing for years. After every medical mission, he’d go back home immediately,” Carla said.

So it came as a shock to her and to her family that Dr. Montes is being accused by the military of being a communist guerrilla.

He is one of the 43 health workers arrested by the military on Feb. 6 and accused of holding a bomb-making training in *****g, Rizal. From being a bomb expert with the New People’s Army’s, Dr. Montes and the other 42 health workers being detained at Camp Capinpin are now accused of being members ofthe NPA’s “health bureau,” a claim that many, least of all Dr. Montes’ friends and colleagues, find absurd.

Testimony

Dr. Montes was the lone witness, his statements the lone testimony that the lawyers for the 43 health workers sought to hear before the Court of Appeals yesterday, during a hearing on the habeas corpus petition they filed to compel the military to produce the 43. The armed forces initially ignored the Supreme Court’s earlier ruling ordering them to present the health workers, prompting critics to accuse it of arrogance.

“He gave a substantial testimony,” said Atty. Romeo Capulong, the lead counsel for the detainees, of Dr. Montes. “He recounted their ordeal from the time their health training was raided on the morning of Feb. 6 up to their condition in detention at present.”

During the hearing, the counsel for the military repeatedly tried to block Dr. Montes’s testimony from being heard, citing the inappropriateness of the CA as the venue for such, and another time citing their supposed fear of how the media will report his testimony. But in the end, Dr. Montes took the stand and told his story.

He spoke of their fright upon seeing the armed soldiers barging into the farmhouse of Dr. Melecia Velmonte, where they were conducting the health training. He spoke of the commotion that ensued, of the failure by the raiding team to tell them why they were being taken into custody.

Dr. Montes spoke of the handcuffs slapped on his wrists and the dreadful one-hour trip to what turned out later to be Camp Capinpin, in Tanay, Rizal, a military camp where the 2nd Infantry Divison of the army is based.

Inside the camp, Dr. Montes and the others were held in solitary confinement and they were blindfolded for at least 36 hours. He spoke of the indignity of having a soldier pull down his pants whenever he wanted to urinate.

He spoke of how he was interrogated and how the interrogators made him believe he was going to die if he did not admit to being a communist guerrilla.

When Atty. Capulong asked him how the ordeal has affected him, the quiet man could no longer utter a single word. He returned to his seat, seemingly broken.

“We presented evidence to prove the detainees were tortured, denied counsel, held incomunicado, among other human-rights violations” perpetrated on them, Atty. Capulong told Bulatlat after the hearing. “The right to due process of the 43 health workers were violated.”

“Hard to Predict”

The hearing lasted more than two hours. Outside the Court of Appeals, supporters and relatives of the 43 health workers who were not allowed near the court held a rally while policemen wielding truncheons held them at bay. At first the media were also barred from entering the court, but they badgered the military and the guards at the gate until they were allowed in, minus their cameras.

At stake at the hearing is the freedom of the 43 health workers and a judgment over whether their arrest and detention by the military were lawful or not.

[IMG]http://www.bulatlat.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/*****g43_CA0215_01.jpg[/IMG]
Friends and colleagues demand the release of the *****g 43. (Photo by Janess Ann J. Ellao / bulatlat.com)

The military wanted the court to terminate the proceedings, arguing that the writ of habeas corpus is essentially just a writ of inquiry which should have been answered already when they produced the 43 health workers or alleged NPA members. The military also reasoned that the CA is not the venue to inquire into the search warrant they had used to raid the house of Dr. Velmonte.

(The search warrant stated the house to be searched is owned by a certain Mr. Condes and it did not have the specific address of Dr. Velmonte’s property. Watch Bulatlat’s webcast interview with one of the 43’s lawyers, Atty. Julius Garcia Matibag, for more information about the search warrant used, how the search and arrest were conducted and how the raiders violated several procedures that made the search and arrest not just defective but illegal. )

On the other hand, Atty. Capulong argued that the CA has jurisdiction not only over the habeas corpus proceedings but also to ascertain whether the arrest was lawful or not. They cited previous cases where it had been decided that the court hearing the petition for writ of habeas corpus must also inquire into every aspect of detention.

In the end, the CA allowed the limited presentation of the witness — Dr. Montes — for the 43 health workers. But it will only decide on the petition for the writ of habeas corpus once the two parties — the Office of the Solicitor General, which serves as counsel for the military, and the lawyers for 43 health workers — have submitted their respective “memoranda of authorities” further fleshing out their arguments. The deadline for this is on Wednesday.

“It is hard to say how the court will decide,” Atty. Capulong told Bulatlat. “We hope the 43 health workers will be set free.”

The CA’s decision, whatever it is, would set a precedent, said Atty. Matibag, one of the counsels. In an interview with Bulatlat on Tuesday, he said that the decision could settle the issue on whether a habeas corpus petition becomes moot and academic once a criminal case has been filed against the subject of the petition, in this case the 43.

If the CA decides in favor of the 43, it would be a repudiation of the manner with which the military carried out the search, arrest and detention of the health workers. And based on the various procedural lapses committed by the raiders, Atty. Matibag said he could not see why the CA would rule in favor of the military.

But if the CA does decide against the 43, Atty. Matibag said, the armed forces will be emboldened, if not justified, by the court in violating the rights of individuals. If that happens, he warned, what happened to the 43 health workers will certainly not be the last.