Rights group: Prosecutors should answer for 'Morong 43' mess

An international human rights group has insisted government prosecutors should be made accountable over the arrest of the 43 health workers on mere suspicion they were communist rebels. The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) made this assertion shortly after the release of most of the 43 health workers who had been detained after their arrest in Morong town in Rizal province last February 6. The AHRC pointed out the Justice Department (DOJ) and National Prosecution Service (NPS) should be held accountable for allowing "wrongful prosecution" of the 43. "(The) DOJ and the NPS who are responsible, in the first instance, of allowing the wrongful prosecution of the victims, must also be held to account. The acknowledgment of wrongdoing and violations must not be used as an excuse to avoid accountability. Those involved must be held to account if only to prevent similar incidents from taking place in the future," the AHRC said in a statement on its website. "If no action is taken against the departments and the individual officers therein it creates a precedent that will allow them to continue such violations with impunity," it added. The health workers, collectively known as the Morong 43, spent more than 10 months in detention following their arrest last February in Morong, Rizal. President Benigno Aquino III paved the way for their release last Dec. 10 when he ordered the Department of Justice to withdraw the charges against the 43. On the other hand, the AHRC noted the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) – as early as last Feb. 26 – found the victims' right to be protected against unreasonable searches, unreasonable seizure and arrests, illegal and incommunicado detention, torture and right to counsel had been violated. Despite these findings the DOJ secretary then proceeded with the prosecution of the case, it said. Because of these developments, the AHRC stressed the need for the DOJ and NPS to have their own mechanism to correct the wrongful prosecution of cases. "While President Aquino's order to the DOJ was necessary to stop the wrongful prosecution of these victims, it would have been better if the DOJ and the National Prosecution Service (NPS) had acted on their own without President Aquino interfering. They should also have their own mechanism to correct the wrongful prosecution of cases. Correcting a mistake must also be done in a correct way. Interestingly, the DOJ is now headed by Leila De Lima who investigated the Morong 43 case as former head of the CHR," it said. Otherwise, it said the lack of an internal control mechanism may expose the DOJ and the NPS to political control by the executive branch. "If the executive is allowed to interfere it will have a tremendous consequence in the future, not only on the prosecution system but also other institutions under the executive branch. If these institutions do not function on their own, they are leaving themselves open to political interference and control by the executive branch; and the latter would be interfering into every aspect of their institutions," the AHRC said. Meanwhile, the AHRC said the withdrawal of the charges should not limit or prevent the victims from seeking legal remedies and redress. Also, they must not be prevented from prosecuting the perpetrators, including the police and the military, for rights violations, it added. "Their release must not hamper whatever legal actions of their own choosing they would be taking against their perpetrators," it said. — LBG, GMANews.TV