SC to AFP: Present 43 health workers in court

(Updated 4:45 p.m.) The Supreme Court issued a writ of habeas corpus on Thursday ordering government forces to bring to the Court of Appeals the 43 health workers arrested over the weekend in Rizal province and allow them to face the court. SC spokesman Midas Marquez said the high court ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to physically present the arrested individuals at 2 p.m. on Friday. "They [the military and police] will be made to explain why the 43 should remain in continuous detention," Marquez told GMANews.TV. The issuance came two days after the non-government organization Community Medicine Development Foundation (COMMED) filed a petition for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus, asking that the workers not only be made to appear in court but also to be released. “All the 43 men and women of the medical profession subject of this petition are presently detained and illegally and unconstitutionally deprived of their liberty by respondents, without any lawful cause and in utter disregard and violation of their constitutional rights," the petition stated. The Supreme Court has directed Court of Appeals Justice Portia Aliño-Hormachuelos, who will hear the case, to ensure that all the 43 individuals would be presented in Friday's hearing. RP not safe for health workers? In a related development, an international health and environment group said the Philippines is not only a dangerous place for journalists but for health workers as well. Merci Ferrer, executive director for Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia (HCWH-SEA), said that the country "must not aim for the category as the most dangerous place for health workers." In her statement, Ferrer lamented that while the military has a duty to protect (the) citizenry but they have "no business harassing and eve detaining the workers who are likewise doing their obligations." HCWH, an international coalition of more than 470 organizations in 52 countries, claimed that the health care volunteers were allegedly subjected to torture after having been forced to admit that they are New People’s Army (NPA) rebels. Arrest in Rizal province The health workers, which include two doctors, a nurse and a midwife, were arrested last Saturday in Morong town in Rizal province on suspicion that they are supporters of communist rebels. They are currently detained at Camp Capinpin, a military headquarters in Tanay town. COMMED said the arrested medical personnel were only attending a health training in a facility within a farmhouse in Barangay (village) Maybangcal. The farmhouse is owned by Melecia Velmonte, M.D., COMMED’s board chairperson and a renowned infectious disease specialist. The group said the training was supposed to be held from February 1 to 7. The military, however, said the workers were attending a bomb-making workshop, with one of them allegedly being trained to assassinate now retired Army Gen. Jovito Palparan, an aspiring senator. Charges of illegal possession of firearms have been filed against the 43 detainees before the Morong, Rizal Regional Trial Court. No bail was recommended for their temporary freedom. - Mark Merueñas and Floro Taguinod/LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV