Clinton help sought in case of 'Morong 43'

A group of US-based Filipino nurses has written US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to express concern over the continued detention of the 43 health workers suspected of being New People's Army insurgents. The National Nurses United (NNU), a 150,000-strong organization of registered Filipino-American nurses in the US, is the latest addition to a growing list of international groups calling for the "immediate and conditional" release of the so-called Morong 43. "We stand in solidarity with the international community in condemning this act of arbitrariness and callousness on the part of the Philippine military and the government," the group — through its co-presidents Deborah Burger, Karren Higgins, and Jean Ross — told Clinton in the letter. The health workers were arrested by military and police operatives during an alleged bomb-making training in a rest house in Morong, Rizal last February 6. Barely two months later, the Morong 43 continues to be detained at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal. The military has already claimed that five of the health workers reportedly admitted being communist rebels and vowed to return to the "fold of law." But the relatives tell a different story, claiming that the detained workers are being physically and mentally tortured for them to admit their membership in the outlawed group. The Morong 43 has been divided into two groups and detained in two separate facilities in Tanay. One group include those who allegedly admitted being communists while the other include those who haven't. Letter to Clinton In its letter to Clinton dated March 23, the NNU noted that the manner that the health workers were being treated was a "a travesty of justice in a country where more than 3,000 nurses and doctors leave the country yearly to seek better lives abroad." The group lauded the health workers for participating in a community-targeted health training organized by the Community Medicine Development Foundation and the Council for Health Development, amid rising numbers of Filipino nurses going abroad. The Philippines is the biggest exporter of nurses in the world and second biggest in exporting doctors, according to the NNU. The NNU was the second group to transmit a letter to Clinton regarding the "Morong 43" incident, following a similar move from a religious congregation in the US, the National Council of Churches-USA. "It is a matter of the deepest concern to us in the United States whenever Christian sisters and brothers are threatened by governments and other forces or slanderously accused of illegitimate activities for political purposes," NCC General Secretary the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, said in their letter. Before that, Bishop Eliezer M. Pascua, general secretary for the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), had insisted the arrest was illegal and described the charges against the Morong 43 as "ludicrous." Other international organization who have thrown support to the Morong 43 are the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), Red Mundial de Mujeres por los Derechos Reproductivos, Reseau Mondial de Femmes por Les Droits Reproductifs, and the Organizing Centre for Social and Economic Justice among others. The issue over the Morong 43 has spurred a court battle between the relatives of the detainees and the military, with the former seeking a writ of habeas corpus from the Court of Appeals. The appellate court ultimately rejected the habeas corpus plea and handed over jurisdiction to a Rizal court that is currently hearing charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives against the Morong 43. The Commission on Human Rights has stepped into the fray, personally checking the conditions of the Morong 43 and finding out if they had undergone psychological torture. — RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV