AFP should stop usurping civilian function

Free the 43 Health Workers

Media Release
March 12, 2010

The Alliance of Free the 43 Health Workers today demanded for the transfer of ALL 43 health workers to Camp Crame, Quezon City. The Alliance said that for more than a month now, the 2nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army is usurping a civilian function that the police instead should perform.

Dr. Eleanor A. Jara, one of the spokespersons of the Alliance said that the military’s continuing and aggravating torture on the 43 should immediately prompt the courts to order the transfer of all the health workers presently detained at Camp Capinpin, Tanay, Rizal. She explained that the transfer to Camp Crame, which is distant from the military officers and officials, would at least make the health workers’ environment less hostile and more accessible to families, colleagues, and counsels of the 43.

“The transfer, however, does not and will not soften our demand for the immediate release of our colleagues because they should not have been detained in the first place. Their arrest was unlawful and they are victims of the military’s shameful violation of political and civil rights,” Dr. Jara added.

She further explained that on top of the physical and mental torture inflicted on the 43, the military continues to harass and take into custody some of the family members of the health workers. “The detainees’ families have reported this and we have no reason not to believe them because the military has every reason to do so – that is to force the 43 to admit to false accusations that they are members of the New People’s Army, hence to vindicate their unjust arrests,” she noted.

The doctor added that the families continue to suffer emotionally because of reports that the military continuously take some detainees out of their cells in the wee hours to either threaten or coax them to make false admissions. Despite the military’s claim that 5 of the health workers have “defected” to their side, Alliance maintains that such “admissions” are results of torture to the detainees and harassment to their families.

“That is why it is with utmost urgency that as we lobby and call for the immediate release of the 43 health workers, we appeal to the courts to transfer the custody of the 43 to Camp Crame and far from their torturers that is the Philippine Army in Camp Capinpin,” Dr. Jara ended.##

Reference: Dr. Eleanor A. Jara – 0917-9789297/(+632) 929-8109

35 Examiner Street, West Triangle Homes, Quezon City, Philippines 1104
Telefax: (+632) 929-8109
Email: chdmancom@gmail.com/headphil@gmail.com

Blog: http://freethehealthworkers.blogspot.com/
Petition Online: http://www.petitiononline.com/FreeD43/petition.html

From a Retired PGH Personnel on the PGH Directorship Issue « U.P. ISSUES

"The faculty doctors should also realize by now that they were used : free clinic spaces in FMAB were dangled so that a private group would be able to privatize and corner the lucrative pharmaceutical and laboratory business in PGH, and right within its premises ! Even Chairman Angeles had misgivings about allowing a private group to operate these services in PGH."

"Many retirees like myself have been joining the continuing efforts to give justice to Dr. Joegon because we are aghast to see our officials bastardizing revered institutions , ethics and collegial practices in the university. Its a sad day indeed, when “impunity” has reached the hollowed halls of the university that has nurtured us and taught us these values!"

From a Retired PGH Personnel on the PGH Directorship Issue « U.P. ISSUES

Group Releases Scathing Report on Violations of Workers’ Rights in Philippines - Bulatlat

The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR), an NGO that documents and monitors human-rights violations committed against workers, released today a report that says that, in the past 50 years, unemployment in the country is highest in the nine years that President Arroyo is in power. “To date, 95 workers, trade unionists and labor rights activists had been killed extrajudicially, four were abducted and forcibly disappeared, and no one had been prosecuted for these murders,” the center said.

Group Releases Scathing Report on Violations of Workers’ Rights in Philippines - Bulatlat

Alliance of UP Student Councils on Cronyism & UP in Crisis « U.P. ISSUES

"The simultaneous outbreak of issues and unrest across UP is the manifestation of the crisis brought about by the drive for commercialization and privatization. Such drive has caused the further marginalization of the democratic rights and welfare of the students, workers, and faculty."

"Governance has degraded to the level of tyranny and cronyism – reminiscent of the national leadership of Pres. Gloria Arroyo that has brought this country to the quagmire of mal-development and perpetual crises."

-KASAMA SA U.P.

Alliance of UP Student Councils on Cronyism & UP in Crisis « U.P. ISSUES

HEAD: Appeals Court is Perpetuating Injustice Using Marcos-Era Doctrine

Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD)
Media Release
10 March 2010

Statement on CA dismissal of habeas corpus petition

Health Alliance for Democracy deplored the Court of Appeals’ decision to dismiss the petition for habeas corpus filed on behalf of the 43 illegally detained health workers.

“Justice is not served today. It is unfortunate that the expanded second division of the Court of Appeals chose to hark back to a Marcos-era doctrine to justify the unjustifiable,” declared Dr. Geneve Rivera, HEAD Secretary-General.

Dr. Rivera is referring to the Ilagan Doctrine, which seems to have been the basis of the decision. The doctrine, based on a 1985 Supreme Court decision, renders a habeas corpus petition “moot and academic” once a case is filed in court.

However, the health group is unconvinced.

“The Court of Appeals is not only perpetuating injustice, it is undermining ‘sacred constitutional rights’ by using a doctrine that legalized the abuses of the military during the Marcos dictatorship. It (CA) is now condoning the contemptuous disregard for due process and human rights of Arroyo’s state security forces.”

HEAD also questioned specific presumptions of the decision.

“What ‘reason of some supervening event’ can the CA justices cite in this instance, save perhaps the planted evidence and torture perpetrated by the military to substantiate its claims? What ‘virtue of a valid court process’ is being cited here, when even the Commission on Human Rights regards the inquest proceedings made by state prosecutors as dubious because of the lack of legal counsel for the accused?”

The health group learned that two of the three-member CA second division, Justices Normandie Pizarro and Francisco Acosta, favored the health workers’ petition. Unfortunately, the division was expanded and the two additional CA justices went against the petition.

“What remedy can the CA now propose, when the cases filed in the lower courts are themselves founded on questionable bases? How can citizens expect to find justice when the courts themselves condone the violation of due process and the presumption of innocence?” added Dr. Rivera.

Quoting former Supreme Court justice Claudio Teehankee in his dissenting opinion on the Ilagan case, HEAD believes that the criminal cases filed against the health workers are “railroaded proceedings” patently void because they have been “issued without jurisdiction under the well-settled rule that ‘a violation of a constitutional right divests the court of jurisdiction; and as a consequence its judgment [or order] is null and void and confers no rights.’”

As for the next step, the health group is seeking to elevate the issue to the Supreme Court. At the same time, they are reiterating their demand for the transfer of the health workers to Camp Crame, to prevent further torture at the hands of the military.

“Our quest for justice is not over. We will not stop until all 43 health workers are free!” concluded Dr. Rivera. ####

References:

Dr. Geneve E. Rivera
Secretary-General, 0920 460 3712

Dr. Darby S. Santiago
Chair, 0927 473 7700

The PGH Imbroglio: Battle for Directorship, Control of UP Board Traced to Questionable Deal

"The PGH director’s role is crucial in the present FMAB project, said UP-PGH’s union leaders. It is, after all, the PGH who had proposed it, and it will likewise be the PGH who can first say whether the project should stop or proceed. Under Dr. Gonzales as PGH director, there is a possibility he would stop the FMAB project. Under Dr. Domingo, the project can only be impeded by a court ruling."

-Bulatlat.com
Bulatlat » The PGH Imbroglio: Battle for Directorship, Control of UP Board Traced to Questionable Deal » Print

Thankless job

"Just like the Morong fiasco involving the unlawful arrest of 43 health workers, this UP-PGH fiasco leaves another bitter taste in the mouth".

-Dr. Rafael Castillo - The Medical Files-Inquirer

Business - Thankless job - INQUIRER.net