From the Mindanao Examiner (Aug 24): Karapatan insists 'Morong 43' are health workers
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Filipino human rights group Karapatan on Saturday maintained the members of the so-called Morong 43 are all health workers and not communist rebels as the military claimed.
This after the military said that one of 43 health workers had been killed in a clash with security forces in Bulacan province in Luzon Island.
The 10th Infantry Division in Davao City said Ramon dela Cruz was slain along with two other gunmen while fighting on the side of the New People’s Army rebels in the village of Kabayunan in Dona Remedios Trinidad town.
It said the 43-year old Dela Cruz was among those captured in February 6, 2010 in Morong town in Rizal province. His parents have confirmed the identity of the slain rebel.
Called the “Morong 43,” the military said members of the group were captured by soldiers while manufacturing improvised explosives. The Morong 43 denied the accusations and said they were only conducting health training and seminar in the village when security forces arrested them.
President Benigno Aquino ordered the release of the Morong 43 after rebels demanded the government to free the health workers before it can resume stalled peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines.
In December 2010, photos of the Morong 43 have surfaced on the Internet. The pictures posted by a military official who uses the alias “Peace Builder” on the social networking site Facebook showed some of them conducting first aid training with NPA rebels.
Along with the photos was a statement saying that five of the Morong 43 admitted to be members of the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines which is waging a bloody secessionist war for decades now.
But Karapatan said the military’s continued insistence that the Morong 43 are members of the NPA is but an attempt to justify the crime they committed against the health workers.
Cristina Palabay, Secretray-General of Karapatan, accused the military of torturing the health workers.
“Nothing justifies torture and illegal arrest,” Palabay said. “We stand by our previous statements that the Morong 43 are community health workers who, in 2010, were illegally arrested, detained and tortured. The military’s continued insistence that they are members of the NPA is but an attempt to justify the crime they committed against the health workers.”
Palabay said they have yet to confirm whether Dela Cruz was really killed in the clash or not.
“Whether Dela Cruz joined the NPA after his release or not is his personal choice. That does not in any way change the facts of the case. The military illegally arrested, detained and tortured the 43 health workers,” she said.
On April 4, 2011, six of the Morong 43 members charged former President Gloria Arroyo, through a civil suit, for physical and psychological torture and other forms of human rights abuses before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court. And on May 4, 2012, they also filed criminal charges against those involved in the illegal arrests and torture at the Department of Justice.
“We are not surprised that until now the military never tires with their assertion that the Morong 43 are NPA members. It’s the only way they think they can come out clean of the violations they committed. But as things are under the Aquino government, some of them even got promoted to higher ranks in the military,” Palabay said.
The military also linked Karapatan and its allies to the NPA.
http://mindanaoexaminer.blogspot.com/2013/08/karapatan-insists-morong-43-are-health.html
Filipino human rights group Karapatan on Saturday maintained the members of the so-called Morong 43 are all health workers and not communist rebels as the military claimed.
This after the military said that one of 43 health workers had been killed in a clash with security forces in Bulacan province in Luzon Island.
The 10th Infantry Division in Davao City said Ramon dela Cruz was slain along with two other gunmen while fighting on the side of the New People’s Army rebels in the village of Kabayunan in Dona Remedios Trinidad town.
It said the 43-year old Dela Cruz was among those captured in February 6, 2010 in Morong town in Rizal province. His parents have confirmed the identity of the slain rebel.
Called the “Morong 43,” the military said members of the group were captured by soldiers while manufacturing improvised explosives. The Morong 43 denied the accusations and said they were only conducting health training and seminar in the village when security forces arrested them.
President Benigno Aquino ordered the release of the Morong 43 after rebels demanded the government to free the health workers before it can resume stalled peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines.
In December 2010, photos of the Morong 43 have surfaced on the Internet. The pictures posted by a military official who uses the alias “Peace Builder” on the social networking site Facebook showed some of them conducting first aid training with NPA rebels.
Along with the photos was a statement saying that five of the Morong 43 admitted to be members of the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines which is waging a bloody secessionist war for decades now.
But Karapatan said the military’s continued insistence that the Morong 43 are members of the NPA is but an attempt to justify the crime they committed against the health workers.
Cristina Palabay, Secretray-General of Karapatan, accused the military of torturing the health workers.
“Nothing justifies torture and illegal arrest,” Palabay said. “We stand by our previous statements that the Morong 43 are community health workers who, in 2010, were illegally arrested, detained and tortured. The military’s continued insistence that they are members of the NPA is but an attempt to justify the crime they committed against the health workers.”
Palabay said they have yet to confirm whether Dela Cruz was really killed in the clash or not.
“Whether Dela Cruz joined the NPA after his release or not is his personal choice. That does not in any way change the facts of the case. The military illegally arrested, detained and tortured the 43 health workers,” she said.
On April 4, 2011, six of the Morong 43 members charged former President Gloria Arroyo, through a civil suit, for physical and psychological torture and other forms of human rights abuses before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court. And on May 4, 2012, they also filed criminal charges against those involved in the illegal arrests and torture at the Department of Justice.
“We are not surprised that until now the military never tires with their assertion that the Morong 43 are NPA members. It’s the only way they think they can come out clean of the violations they committed. But as things are under the Aquino government, some of them even got promoted to higher ranks in the military,” Palabay said.
The military also linked Karapatan and its allies to the NPA.
http://mindanaoexaminer.blogspot.com/2013/08/karapatan-insists-morong-43-are-health.html