MANILA, Philippines -- A lawyer of the 43 detained health workers accused of being members of the communist New People?s Army expressed alarm about reports that the military custodians were trying to isolate another detainee from the group.

Julius Matibag said he received information from the relatives of the detainees that Jenilyn Pizarro was taken out of Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal at past 4 on Saturday afternoon.

He said the soldiers escorted Pizarro out of the camp on board a van with plate number XPD-264 toward an unknown destination. As of early Sunday afternoon, Matibag said there was still no word if Pizarro returned to her cell.

Matibag said the military might be trying to turn Pizarro against her fellow detainees as part of their strategy to divide the group. He said the soldiers also tried to take Miann Osero the same day but she resisted.

Earlier, the lawyer accused the military custodians of practicing ?divide and conquer? tactics by isolating three detainees ?Valentino Paulino, Cherily Tawagon and Eleanor Carandang?from the rest of the group.

The three executed affidavits denying that the military had tortured and harassed them.

Matibag said the three were coerced into using the services of Cyrus Jurado, a lawyer supposedly hired by the military. Matibag and his fellow counsels objected to Jurado's appearance in the case.

On Friday, the arraignment of the 43 on charges of illegal possession of weapons and explosives did not push through after the lawyers cited heir pending application for habeas corpus with the Court of Appeals.

The 43 were arrested last month from a resort in Morong, Rizal, by military and police operatives, on charges they had been training on bomb making. But the detainees and their lawyers said they were training in community health management.