İmmediate Freedom for the 43 Health Workers

CANADA | 17 – 02 – 2010 | The Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights condemns in the strongest terms the illegal arrest, torture, and continued unjust detention of the 43 health workers forcibly taken by the military and police on February 6, 2010, in Morong, Rizal, Philippines. This group is made up of two medical doctors, a registered nurse, a midwife and 39 community health workers.

According to Dr. Melecia Velmonte, Professor Emeritus at the University of the Philippines and an expert on infectious diseases, the 43 health workers were holding their health training at her family resort compound. This was a First Responders’ Training for health workers organized by the Community Medicine Development Foundation, Inc (COMMED) and the Council for Health Development (CHD).  The early morning raid was conducted by 300 heavily-armed soldiers and policemen who came in eight (8) military trucks, two (2) armored personnel carriers, and police cars.

The National Union of People’s Lawyers has also denounced the raid and arrests and said that “the search conducted by the military was an illegal search because it proceeded from a search warrant that was invalid on its face.”  The warrant had a different address, dated the previous day, and issued for a certain Mario Condes (who was not among the 43). True to form, the military discovered in their illegal search “guns, high explosives,” including “a grenade and land mine from one of the beds.”  The lawyers, health organizations and human rights groups agree that the “evidence” was likely planted by the military. As the husband of Dr. Mary Mia-Clamor, one of the 43 health workers, pointedly observed, “Would you hide a grenade under your pillow?”

The 43 health workers were blindfolded, hauled to Camp Capinpin, rendered incommunicado, denied visits from their lawyers, doctors and their families – all in violation of the detainees’ constitutional and human rights. Even members of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) were denied their legally-mandated visitorial rights. Furthermore, the public inquest of the detainees should have been conducted in a police station, and not a military camp, as stipulated in Department of Justice Circular No. 61.

We fear for the safety and well-being of the 43 workers the longer they stay in the custody of their captors. The detained health workers have described how they were subjected to forced interrogations, blindfolded and handcuffed for at least 36 hours and subjected to various forms of physical and mental torture and inhumane, degrading treatment. At the Court of Appeals hearing last Feb. 15th, Dr. Alex Montes, the 63- year- old surgeon in the group described his torture and repeated interrogation. Electrodes were attached to his head, which sent electric shocks through his body when his answers failed to please his interrogators. He was brought outside, handcuffed and blindfolded, tied to a chair, and jabbed at with sharp objects on his chest. He was shoved backward and twice, he found himself under water, half-drowning and blind. He testified that he could not walk alone and suffered the indignity of having someone else lower his pants and underwear for him to be able to pee.  Dr. Montes is not only a surgeon with COMMED but he also served as the Health Ministries Coordinator of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.

CHR Commissioner Chair Leila de Lima expressed alarm at the reports of the detainees’ experiences: “The detainees were denied sleep and subjected to a continuous interrogation. One of them says that they were continuously handcuffed and blindfolded for about 36 hours,” she says.  “They were not allowed to touch their own body, meaning those feeding them food is someone else.” They were also kept in separate detention cells, and the blindfolds removed only prior to de Lima’s visit.

All these acts are clear violations of the Anti-Torture Act of 2009. All these are clear violations of international human rights conventions and even the Philippine Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Nothing justifies these violations of human rights.

As the Arroyo government nears the end of its presidential term, we see her marked desperation to eliminate any opposition and resistance against her government. We see the arrest, detention and torture of the 43 health workers as part of the government’s counter-insurgency effort (called the Operation Freedom Watch) that has violated the people’s rights and liberties and claimed the lives of thousands and yet, has failed to stop the people’s movement for change.

The Canada-Philippine Solidarity for Human Rights demands the immediate release of the 43 health workers. We also demand that the military and police officers be charged with torture pursuant to the Anti-Torture Act of 2009 as well with the violations of the detainees’ constitutional, legal and human rights.

No one, more so those who have chosen to use their medical knowledge and skills to address the health needs of  underserved communities with little or no financial gain,  deserves this kind of injustice.

The Canada-Philippine Solidarity for Human Rights will continue to follow the case of the 43 health workers. We will continue to extend our support and solidarity to the 43 health workers, their families, their colleagues in the health sector and their lawyers.

Freedom for the 43 Health Workers NOW!

-Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Email: cps_hr@yahoo.ca