Court reiterates transfer order for 38 of ‘Morong 43’

Seven days into their fasting, relatives of the so-called ‘Morong 43’ welcomed the commitment order issued Friday by the Morong Regional Trial Court (RTC) reiterating its earlier decision to transfer 38 of the 43 health workers from Camp Capinpin to Camp Crame. In his decision, Branch 78 Presiding Judge Amorfina Cerrado-Cezar cited the transfer of 47 Maguindanao policemen implicated in the November 23 massacre from Camp Crame to Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan in Taguig City. (See: 47 cops join Ampatuans at Taguig jail facility) “In view of the forty-seven policemen detained in PNP Custodial Center, Camp Crame, Quezon City to the Metro Manila District Jail, Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, Taguig City on April 17, the order of this Court dated April 7 is hereby reiterated," the decision read. The Morong RTC ordered on April 7 the transfer of the 38 health workers from Camp Capinpin, headquarters of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, to Camp Crame, a Philippine National Police facility. The RTC order was based on a petition by the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Maj. Gen. Jorge Segovia. (See: Court orders transfer of 38 health workers to Crame) The workers, however, were brought back to Camp Capinpin barely an hour after they were brought to Camp Crame as the PNP asked for a change in the detention venue, saying Camp Crame was already overcrowded. (See: 38 health workers brought to Crame, and back to Capinpin) “We are expecting compliance with the new order within 24 hours. We will be vigilant," said Jigs Clamor, husband of one of the detained health workers, Dr. Merry Mia Clamor. The 43 health workers have been detained for over two months now after allegedly being caught in a bomb-making training in a farmhouse in Morong town in Rizal province. The workers, however, insist they were merely conducting health skills training. “Hopefully, Camp Crame will admit the detainees. The last thing we want is just another bus trip for them," said Renato Reyes Jr., secretary-general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, a federation of progressive groups, which has been calling for the health workers’ release. Relatives and groups working for the release of the health workers will troop to Camp Crame on Saturday morning to ensure the safe transfer of the workers, Clamor added. The order likewise called on Cyrus Jurado, lawyer for five of the 43 detainees who will remain under military custody, and state prosecutor Romeo Senson to comment on the manifestation filed by the health workers lawyers’ asking for the five to be included in the transfer. The military earlier claimed the five workers admitted to being members of the communist-led New People’s Army and will be used as witnesses against the 38 others. Fasting since April 17 Clamor, along with over 30 other relatives of the detained health workers, has been fasting since April 17 in a camp-out at Bantayog ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Shrine) in EDSA, to press for the transfer of the 43 to Camp Crame, which they say is more accessible to the detainees’ families, lawyers, and other visitors. “As soon as they are transferred, we will declare the fasting to be a success, and then work on their immediate release," he said In an interview, Andrew Ocasla, the 23-year-old son of health volunteer Delia Ocasla, meanwhile said they have been “uneasy" knowing that their relatives are still in Camp Capinpin, a military facility. “What they (the military) say on TV is different from what they actually do," Andrew, who has also been fasting, told GMANews.TV He said the last time he talked to his mother, she related how they were sometimes brought stale food and half-cooked rice. A more pressing cause for concern, however, were the threats the detainees allegedly continue to receive from jail guards. According to Andrew, these guards were saying that “they knew where" the detained workers live with their families. The jail guards also said there will be others apart from the five who will remain under military custody, Andrew related based on his conversations with his mother. Andrew and her sister, who have been taking turns staying in the camp-out and visiting their mother in Camp Capinpin, thus had to take safety measures, such as leaving the house only when necessary and using alternate routes when heading home. “Sometimes, coming from the camp-out or from a visit to our mother, we stay somewhere else instead of directly going home and keep on walking until we are sure we are not being followed," he said. A nursing graduate, Andrew disclosed he will also be volunteering for his mother’s organization, the Council for Health and Development, after she is released along with the others. “I was inspired by what they have been doing as health skills trainers, and the courage that they have shown in spite of what they are undergoing," he explained. –JV, GMANews.TV