Kin, supporters await release of Morong 43 members

Relatives and supporters of the Morong 43 on Friday trooped early to the health workers' detention facility in southern Metro Manila to wait for their release. The workers were arrested in February on suspicion of being communist rebels. A report on dzBB radio said the relatives and supporters of the health workers expressed hopes there will be no more delay in the release. The report said members of militant groups supporting the 43 joined the relatives in waiting at the Metro Manila District Jail in Taguig City. The relatives, supporters and militant groups started showing up at the district jail before 8 a.m., it added. According to the relatives, they are ready to wait for the court to issue the order to release the 43. However, they said it would be better if the workers will be released before Christmas. The Morong regional trial court was expected to release on Friday its decision on the government’s motion to drop the criminal charges against the 43. (See: Court decision on ‘Morong 43’ release expected Friday) Last week, President Benigno Aquino III paved the way for the release of the 43 when he ordered the Justice Department to drop the charges against the health workers. Aquino said the circumstances of the arrest last Feb. 6 indicated the 43 were denied due process. Days before his order, Aquino had said that he wouldn't touch the issue of the Morong 43. But what could prevent the release of the health workers is the protestation filed by party-list group ANAD (Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy), a suspected pro-military organization. In opposing the Department of Justice's motion to withdraw the criminal charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives on the health workers, ANAD maintained that members of the Morong 43 are indeed communist rebels. "I don’t believe that these people are ordinary health workers. They are communist party members who are being trained to become members of the medical team of the NPA," ANAD Rep. Pastor Alcover Jr. told GMANews.TV in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. — RSJ, GMANews.TV