CHR's De Lima to visit detained health workers
02/08/2010 | 09:46 AM
The head of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will personally look into Saturday's arrest in Morong, Rizal of 43 health workers accused of being communist rebels.
In a radio interview on Monday, CHR chairman Leila de Lima scored the military for blocking a CHR team that tried to visit the arrested workers last Sunday at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.
"I will go there with a team. I will still be taking issue on what happened yesterday. Our constitutional mandate is clear: We have visitorial powers," she told dzXL radio.
Under Article 8, Section 18 of the 1987 Constitution, the commission can "investigate, on its own or on a complaint by any party, all forms of human rights violations involving civil and political rights."
The CHR can also "exercise visitorial powers over jails, prisons or detention facilities."
The Army, however, defended its actions but said the CHR team would be allowed inside the facility.
"The CHR will be free to enter the facility anytime," Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato, spokesman of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, told dzXL in Filipino.
Law enforcers arrested 43 health workers in Rizal last Saturday, on suspicion they were members of the communist group New People’s Army. The military said the workers were undergoing explosive training, an allegation they have denied.
De Lima noted that under the Charter, the commission does not need clearance to visit detainees.
De Lima added that while they would not interfere with the military’s investigation of the suspects, they have to make sure the 43 were in good condition.
Detoyato said they were trying to secure the suspects last Sunday and were preventing a jailbreak.
Habeas corpus
In a related development, militant health workers said they would ask the Supreme Court to issue a writ of habeas corpus for their colleagues.
The Council for Health and Development (CHD) Inc., Community Medicine Development (COMMED) Foundation Inc., Health Action for Human Rights (HAHR) and Karapatan will file the petition.
"We belie the statement by the military that the abducted health workers were there to learn how to make bombs and firearms. That is absolutely not true," CHD Executive Director Eleanor Jara said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines news Web site.
"The evidence allegedly recovered from the area such as handguns, grenades and other explosives and the Bayan Muna campaign paraphernalia were all planted," she added.
Jara said the petition would seek to force the Army’s 202nd Infantry Brigade to produce the 43 health workers arrested in the middle of their training in Morong town, Rizal.
Jara belied claims of 202nd Infantry Brigade head Col. Aurelio Baladad that the volunteers were connected with the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
She said the health workers were on the sixth day of their community health training inside the farm of Melecia Velmonte, an expert on infectious disease and a consultant of the Philippine General Hospital.
De la Paz claimed the military had asked the farm's caretakers to open the gate at gun point. The evidence, she added, was made more dubious when a hand grenade was found. — SMD/NPA, GMANews.TV
In a radio interview on Monday, CHR chairman Leila de Lima scored the military for blocking a CHR team that tried to visit the arrested workers last Sunday at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.
"I will go there with a team. I will still be taking issue on what happened yesterday. Our constitutional mandate is clear: We have visitorial powers," she told dzXL radio.
Under Article 8, Section 18 of the 1987 Constitution, the commission can "investigate, on its own or on a complaint by any party, all forms of human rights violations involving civil and political rights."
The CHR can also "exercise visitorial powers over jails, prisons or detention facilities."
The Army, however, defended its actions but said the CHR team would be allowed inside the facility.
"The CHR will be free to enter the facility anytime," Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato, spokesman of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, told dzXL in Filipino.
Law enforcers arrested 43 health workers in Rizal last Saturday, on suspicion they were members of the communist group New People’s Army. The military said the workers were undergoing explosive training, an allegation they have denied.
De Lima noted that under the Charter, the commission does not need clearance to visit detainees.
De Lima added that while they would not interfere with the military’s investigation of the suspects, they have to make sure the 43 were in good condition.
Detoyato said they were trying to secure the suspects last Sunday and were preventing a jailbreak.
Habeas corpus
In a related development, militant health workers said they would ask the Supreme Court to issue a writ of habeas corpus for their colleagues.
The Council for Health and Development (CHD) Inc., Community Medicine Development (COMMED) Foundation Inc., Health Action for Human Rights (HAHR) and Karapatan will file the petition.
"We belie the statement by the military that the abducted health workers were there to learn how to make bombs and firearms. That is absolutely not true," CHD Executive Director Eleanor Jara said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines news Web site.
"The evidence allegedly recovered from the area such as handguns, grenades and other explosives and the Bayan Muna campaign paraphernalia were all planted," she added.
Jara said the petition would seek to force the Army’s 202nd Infantry Brigade to produce the 43 health workers arrested in the middle of their training in Morong town, Rizal.
Jara belied claims of 202nd Infantry Brigade head Col. Aurelio Baladad that the volunteers were connected with the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
She said the health workers were on the sixth day of their community health training inside the farm of Melecia Velmonte, an expert on infectious disease and a consultant of the Philippine General Hospital.
De la Paz claimed the military had asked the farm's caretakers to open the gate at gun point. The evidence, she added, was made more dubious when a hand grenade was found. — SMD/NPA, GMANews.TV
