CHR team visits ‘Morong 43,’ sees no physical torture signs

(Updated Feb. 14, 3:28 am) The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has found no signs of physical abuse among the 43 health workers arrested by a combined Army-police force in Morong town, Rizal province last week on suspicion of being New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, even as it maintained that the “Morong 43" had been subjected to mental torture after their arrest. Human Rights Commissioner Leila de Lima said in a statement released to the media on Saturday that all 43 health workers had shown no traces of physical torture based on medical check-ups conducted by the commission’s doctors. De Lima added however that two of the health workers had injuries around the eyes and on their wrists, reportedly due to 36 hours of continuous blindfolding and tight handcuffs. She also said a male health worker had claimed feeling some twitching on his thighs while he was being interrogated by his captors — a possible sign of being subjected to electric shock. De Lima also stood by the commission’s initial findings that the health workers had been subjected to mental torture through continuous blindfolding and repeated interrogations using scare tactics, such as "making them believe that they can be killed or disappear anytime or that something will happen to their families if they don’t cooperate." According to the CHR findings, the detained health workers had also been subjected to other indignities such as their captors removing their underwear and forcing them to wear disposable diapers. On Friday, De Lima, lawyers and doctors visited the 43 health workers inside Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal for the first time since their arrest to conduct interviews and legal consultations. The CHR statement noted other violations of the health workers' basic rights, such as "repeated denial to right to counsel at the time of the arrest, during interrogations and inquest." The human rights commissioner also condemned the military’s failure to present the health workers before the Court of Appeals on Friday pursuant to a writ of habeas corpus issued by the Supreme Court. “If the AFP authorities had the will to obey the order, they could, with best or earnest efforts, have done so. I just hope and pray that between yesterday and the next hearing on Monday, they (the health workers) would not be subjected to further interrogations, mental torture, indignities and other human rights violations," she said. De Lima likewise urged the AFP and the Philippine National Police to “cease and desist from performing similar acts," saying that “no one deserves to be treated inhumanely." AFP assures compliance with SC order on Monday The 43 health workers were arrested by a combined Army-police raiding force last week in a retired doctor’s rest house in Morong, Rizal on suspicions of being members of the New People’s Army. They were said to be attending a training session for explosives. (See: AFP: 43 nabbed in doc’s home are ‘rebel trainees’) Last Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a writ of habeas corpus ordering the military and the police to present the health workers before the court on Friday, but authorities failed to comply with the order, citing lack of time to work out a security plan. (See: AFP fails to produce 43 health workers in court) On Saturday night, AFP public information chief Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the military would produce the 43 health workers in court on Monday. GMA News Weekend Report quoted Brawner as saying that the AFP was already fixing the security measures for the workers. Raul Gonzalez, chief presidential legal counsel, also assured the courts on Saturday that the AFP would comply with the order to produce the 43 this Monday, adding that not even President Arroyo, as AFP commander-in-chief, is above the law. “If there is a court order, not even the President can prevent that. I am sure the AFP will comply with that," Gonzalez told government-run dzRB radio.
Various groups, including the CHR, criticized the military’s failure to comply with the writ, calling it “a dangerous precedent in our justice system." Custodians may be liable under Anti-torture Law Meanwhile, the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) voiced disgust over what it called the utter lack of accountability shown by military officials. “At the minimum, the arresting units and the custodians of the 43 may have violated Section 4 of the Anti-torture Law, which defines the nature of psychological torture," said Bayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes Jr. in a statement posted on the Bayan Website. Reyes said the AFP also might have violated Section 12 of the law that guarantees the right to physical, medical and psychological examination of detainees. Some detainees, while arrested on February 6, were only allowed to see a doctor on February 8, while it was only on February 11 that all of them were allowed to see doctors, he added. Reyes also noted that under the law, the immediate commanding officer of the AFP unit or the senior public official of the PNP and other law enforcement agencies will be held liable as a principal to the crime of torture or other cruel treatment committed by his subordinates. “Gen. Jorge Segovia and other ranking officers of Camp Capinpin, by virtue of command responsibility and by their inability to check the torture that was done to the detainees from the time they were placed in Camp Capinpin, may be held criminally liable," he said. — JV/NPA, GMANews.TV