Court orders transfer of 38 health workers to Crame

As they have long demanded, 38 of the so-called Morong 43 will finally be taken out of military custody and transferred to a police facility following an order from a local court in Rizal province. According to a staff of the Morong Regional Trial Court, the order to transfer the 38 health workers to the Philippine National Police headquarters in Quezon City was contained in Judge Amorfina Cerrado-Cesar's (Branch 78) decision dated April 7. After their arrest last February 6, the group earned the monicker "Morong 43" because all the 43 of them were arrested in a rest house in Morong, a first class municipality in Rizal, east of Metro Manila. Suspected of being members of the New People's Army (NPA), the workers were detained inside Camp Capinpin, which houses the headquarters of the Army's 2nd Infantry "Jungle Fighter" Division in Tanay town. "Mayroon nang desisyon, inilabas na kahapon para i-transfer iyong 38 sa Camp Crame. I-seserve na siya sa Camp Capinpin mamaya, inaantay na lang iyong mga abugado [of both camps]," Job Dumalaon, legal researcher of Morong RTC, told GMANews.TV on Thursday. The transfer order stemmed from the motion filed by Maj. Gen. Jorge Segovia, commander of the Army's 2nd ID. Earlier, five of the health workers have executed affidavits admitting their membership in the NPA, the outlawed armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, and promised to return to the fold of the law. The five had already been taken away from the original "Morong 43" and transferred to a separate detention facility inside Camp Capinpin. Allyn Montes, daughter of one of the detained workers, has informed the Catholic Bishops Conference about the scheduled transfer. "Relatives and supporters will be at Capinpin to pressure the [Armed Forces of the Philippines]," said Montes in a text message to the CBCP, a portion of which was posted on the CBCP website. Asked when the 38 workers would be transferred, AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. told radio dzBB: "Titignan muna namin lahat ng security consideration pero as soon as possible [We will first look at security considerations but we will transfer them as soon as possible]." Global attention Already, the continued detention of the 43 health workers has earned the concern of the international community, with at least two US-based groups appealing to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to intervene in the matter. 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. A criminal case of illegal possession of firearms and explosive devices hurled against the "Morong 43" remains pending before the sala of Cerrado-Cesar. The 43 were arrested by virtue of a search warrant issued by Judge Cesar Mangrobang of the Imus, Cavite Regional Trial Court. Relatives of the Morong 43 and militant groups have claimed that the search warrant was "defective" because the person identified in it was not found to be among the 43 arrested individuals. The Commission on Human Rights has been conducting an investigation into the matter on complaints that the workers have been mentally and physically tortured. — RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV