Military defies SC on 43
AFP fails to present detainees
By Norman Bordadora
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:14:00 02/13/2010
Filed Under: Military, Judiciary (system of justice), Human Rights
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 “*****g 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 *****g, 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 *****g 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
>>>pls post your comments on this<<<
mismo ang AFP wala ni sunod or wla ning tuman sa isyu nga writ of habeas corpus gikan sa Supreme Court.
AFP defies Supreme Court
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