15 Feb News

Doctors, Medical and Health Groups Refute Military on Morong 43 By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL and RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Various medical associations expressed outrage today over the arrest, detention and alleged torture of 43 health workers. In a press conference at the Alvior Hall of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in Manila this morning, officials of these groups refuted the military’s claim that the 43 are communist rebels who were undergoing bomb training when they were arrested in a raid on Feb. 6.
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Notes from Morong 43 Hearing:
AFP Now Trapped in Its Own Lies
By RENATO REYES JR.
Secretary-General, Bayan

MANILA — When the 43 arrested health workers were brought to the auditorium of the Court of Appeals, each was handcuffed to a soldier. If they were going to the rest room, they would be accompanied by the soldier assigned to them. Only when they enter the rest room would their handcuffs be removed. This went on for some time, before lawyers asserted that the handcuffs be removed and the detainees allowed to confer with their lawyers and family members.
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The Case of the Morong 43, a Fight Against Impunity
By BENJIE OLIVEROS
Analysis
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) deployed around 300 men, a battalion, to arrest them in the morning of Feb. 6. The health workers were handcuffed, blindfolded and held in isolation for days. When they had to answer nature’s call they were each led by a military officer who pulled down their underwear for them. They were interrogated and denied sleep for days. Representatives from the government’s Commission on Human Rights were even denied entry to the camp where the detainees were kept the following day.
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