AFP defends Morong raid

MANILA, Philippines - The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) defended yesterday the raid in Morong and the arrest of 43 health workers, saying the operation was legal and based on “A-1 information” which confirmed the suspects’ involvement in the New People’s Army (NPA).

“Those who conducted the operations would not have proceeded if they were not sure of the information that reached them. They wouldn’t move if they did not have A-1 information,” AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo S. Brawner Jr. said.

“The raid was based on intelligence reports. That is the reason why our soldiers and the police were determined to proceed with the operations and to get a search warrant prior to that,” he added.

Brawner said some of the arrested suspects either have pending warrants of arrests or are involved in atrocities such as jailbreaks and ambushes. He added that some of the detained suspects were identified by P/Insp. Rex Cuntapay as among the rebels who abducted him last year.

Cuntapay was one of the three policemen abducted by the communist NPA in an ambush in Rodriguez, Rizal. He and Police Officers 1 Alberto Umali and Marvin Agasen were released March of the same year after a series of negotiations.

The AFP spokesman also justified the bringing of APC vehicles, military trucks, and weapons during the raid, saying this was intended to ensure the security of the raiding team.

“You have to prepare. These are rebels. They have guns... so you have to prepare also for any eventuality. Any commander will do that. There are 43 people there and they (raiding team) do not know if they are all armed,” Brawner said.

He also answered accusations that the authorities are barring the families and lawyers of the suspects from visiting them.

“Before they (visitors) can come in, we have processes. They cannot just enter. We really have to identify who among these people are relatives of the 43 suspects. It is possible that some individuals would want to enter to rescue them,” Brawner said.

He, however, said they would work with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to ensure that the rights of all stakeholders are respected.

“Our leadership believes in respect for human rights,” Brawner said.

CHR chair Leila de Lima and other CHR representatives were allowed access to the detention center of Camp Capinpin yesterday where they interviewed the arrested health workers.

De Lima, who condemned how the CHR was initially barred from talking to the detainees, is expected to issue a report on the incident.

Meanwhile, Brawner said authorities are still studying whether Dr. Melecia Velmonte, the doctor who owns the raided rest house, should be held accountable for the alleged assembly of the suspects. He, however, said it is possible that the doctor may not have been aware of the activities being conducted by the suspects in her rest house.

Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato, civil-military operations officer of the Philippine Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, said they will review the raid in Morong to improve the way they conduct raids.

“We are confident that we did the right thing. But we will still conduct reviews to improve our operations,” he said in a phone interview.

The 43 suspected rebels were arrested last Saturday by combined elements of the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police for allegedly conducting a bomb-making seminar in Morong.

Velmonte, however, claimed that the raiding team failed to present a search warrant and even pointed guns at her helpers. She also claimed that she is not involved in any rebel activity as the suspects merely used her rest house as venue for their health training.

Groups reiterate release of health workers

Meanwhile, the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) reiterated their demand for the immediate release of the doctors and other health workers who were illegally detained by the AFP.

They said there is no reason for the military to detain doctors Alex Montes of Community Medicine Development Foundation (COMMED) and Merry Mia of the Council for Health and Development (CHD).

“Contrary to allegations made by Col. Aurelio Baladbad of the 202nd Infantry Brigade, the people they are holding are long-time medical personnel who are well-known to their patients and the communities they serve,” HEAD secretary-general Geneve Rivera said.

She said the two doctors have been working with their respective NGOs for many years along with Gary Liberal, a nurse, Teresa Quinawayan, a midwife, and CHD staff members.

Velmonte’s rest house where the health workers were conducting training has three buildings and is a regular venue of health trainings. Yet the AFP alleges that this is an “NPA training camp,” she added.

Meanwhile, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay assailed yesterday the refusal of the military to grant the CHR access to the arrested health workers.

“This is a blatant violation of human rights and their right to counsel, both guaranteed under the 1987 Constitution. Is this a throwback to the dictatorship when even the quick response team (QTR) of the CHR, or even relatives of the arrested, are not permitted to check on their condition?” Binay asked.

Binay, a human rights lawyer and activist during the martial law years, also condemned the military for raiding the rest house.

He described the military operation as “overkill” and said it betrayed the administration’s fondness for making arrests based on trumped-up charges.

“Even the Health Alliance for Democracy has attested to the validity of the health skills training, so how come they are still insisting that their operation was legal? Is it because they do not want to admit that they made an error and become a laughingstock? This speaks of harassment, pure and simple. The sad part is that the defenseless and the innocent are the ones who always fall prey to this type of treatment,” Binay said.

Party-list group Gabriela also condemned the arrest and accused the military yesterday of another attempt to link a progressive people’s organizations to the armed revolutionary movement.

“It is foul, truly a characteristic of the Arroyo regime. We can see through clearly the malicious intent behind this arrest,” the group said in a statement, noting that the participants of the training are known supporters of the progressive party-lists’ causes and have a long, fruitful history of delivering health services to many neglected areas.

Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan said the CHD is one of the partners of the Gabriela women’s group and the Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP) in health programs for their local chapters nationwide.

Explosives and guns along with Bayan Muna campaign materials were purportedly found as the rooms were searched without the presence of witnesses, she said.

“This only tells us that said ‘evidence’ was deliberately planted to provide grounds for the mass arrest. These people are health care providers to the poorest areas and Gabriela Women’s Party laments the fact that 26 of the arrested are women. More so, it’s the women and children who most benefited from the services they provided,” Ilagan said. With Michael Punongbayan, Mayen Jaymalin