1 more detained health worker gives birth

MANILA, Philippines - For the past eight months, Ma. Mercedes Castro has been struggling to regain her freedom being one of the so-called “Morong 43,” and to keep the baby in her womb healthy.

Not much may be in sight as far as freedom is concerned but Castro yesterday met her new bundle of joy – a baby girl she gave birth with thru ceasarian section at the Philippine General Hospital.

“She is happy but somehow, she is also stressed out because of their condition,” said Health Alliance for Democracy media officer Philip Paraan.

The “Morong 43” was arrested by the military in a resthouse in Morong, Rizal on suspicion that they were insurgents. The group belied this, claiming that they were simply community health workers undergoing a seminar then.

Castro, along with the others, has been detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, until she was brought to the PGH four days ago when she felt signs of giving birth.

According to Dr. Julie Caguiat, spokesperson of Free the Morong 43 Health Workers Alliance, the group was “happy that despite all the suffering and injustice Mercy and Morong 43 endured, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl.”

“We hope that she and her child will no longer be threatened of being separated out of an unjust and illegal detention,” Caguiat added.

Castro is the second “Morong 43 mom” to have given birth. First was Judilyn Oliveros who gave birth to a baby boy at the PGH where she is now under “hospital detention” as she still breastfeeds her child.

According to Caguiat, Castro had a delicate pregnancy because of her asthma that was worsened by her stay in jail. This is Castro’s second pregnancy.