Court OKs hospital arrest for ‘Morong 43’ detainee

A court in Morong, Rizal on Wednesday allowed one of the 43 health workers arrested early this year on suspicion that they are communist rebels to stay at a hospital after giving birth last month. Judilyn Oliveros will be staying in a room at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) for three months to breastfeed her newborn baby before she is transferred back to Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig, where she is currently detained. In a ruling dated Aug. 25, 2010, Judge Gina Escoto of the Morong Regional Trial Court (RTC) granted the petition of the lawyers of the so-called Morong 43 to place Oliveros on hospital arrest. Security personnel will be assigned to Oliveros on a 24-hour duty, according to Dr. Geneve Rivera, secretary general of the Health Alliance for Democracy. Visitation will be allowed, Rivera said, adding that the Department of Justice (DOJ) did not oppose the petition. The Morong RTC earlier denied the petition for release on recognizance filed by the lawyers of the Morong 43, which was supposed to transfer the custody of Oliveros and her baby to a private individual for six months, subject to conditions by the court. Oliveros, a first-time mother, gave birth by Caesarian section at the PGH on July 22, and has been nursing her baby under guard. “She is currently having difficulties taking care of her baby because the prison cell has no ventilation and there are 23 of them detained there," Rivera said. She also expressed hopes that the same consideration will be extended to Mercy Castro, another detainee, who is set to give birth on October. Various local and international human rights groups have maintained that the Morong 43, who were arrested last February 6, were innocent of the accusations being hurled against them by government security forces. - KBK, GMANews.TV