PNP wants Morong workers detained in Rizal jail

The Philippine National Police on Monday asked a Rizal court to order the transfer of 38 detained health workers to the Rizal Provincial Jail in Taytay town. In his motion, PNP Custodial Center head Superintendent Cesar Magsino asked Rizal Regional Trial Court Branch 78 presiding judge Amorfina Cerrado-Cezar to place the suspected communist rebels under the custody of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. "The BJMP is mandated to maintain the custody and safekeeping of any prisoner, any fugitive from justice or person detained awaiting investigation or trial, and or transfer to the National Penitentiary and other institutions in accordance with law," he said. The 38 are among the 43 workers arrested during a military and police raid on February 6 at a farmhouse in Morong, Rizal, on suspicions that they were communist rebels attending an explosives training. The workers, who have since denied the allegations, are detained at the Army’s Camp Capinpin in Tanay town. Five of the 43 workers have reportedly admitted membership to the New People’s Army and were applying to be state witnesses. They have been transferred to unidentified locations. Citing security measures, Magsino on Monday explained that the Rizal Provincial Jail is the more reasonable detention facility for the health workers because of its proximity to the Rizal regional trial court. The PNP Custodial Center is about 30 kilometers away from the regional trial court, while the provincial jail is only seven kilometers away. "Given the number of accused, more or less 100 PNP personnel and 20 vehicles will be detailed and dispatched to secure the accused everytime their appearance is required by the court," said Magsino. "If the 38 accused will be detained at PNPCC in Camp Crame, it is of public knowledge that concerned groups will stage series of demonstrations and rallues within and around the vicinity of Camp Crame to propagate thier causes, thereby, creating serious public disturbance," he added. The Rizal court had earlier ruled that the 38 workers be detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City, but the National Police is still asking the court to reconsider its decision. — with Sophia Dedace/RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV