Health workers go to Unicef over harassment

BAGUIO CITY—Cordillera health workers have complained to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) about being harassed allegedly by military men in the course of their volunteer work in the mountain villages.

Mia Rasalan, executive director of the Community Health Education, Services and Training in the Cordillera Region (Chestcore), sent to  the Unicef on Dec. 12 a set of documents about workers being stalked and threatened through text messages. They claimed these were committed by military men.

“We have asked Unicef to issue a declaration [urging the Philippine government] to protect health workers in far-flung villages which could not be reached by government services,” she said.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) dismissed Chestcore’s complaint against the Armed Forces of the Philippines on Nov. 3 after it found  no direct evidence to link the military to the threats sent through text messages, said lawyer Harold Kub-aron, CHR acting Cordillera director.

Chestcore’s complaint was filed in March.

“The threats were real enough, but we cannot legally hold the AFP accountable yet. Not with this kind of evidence,” Kub-aron said.

The CHR has been coordinating with the National Telecommunications Commission to help track down the source of the text messages, he said, adding that “although it would not lead us to actual people if the mobile telephones are not registered.”

Rasalan said they urged the Unicef to seek immediate action from the Philippine government because CHR’s actions may have endangered the workers. “By dismissing the harassment case … we will be open targets of more harassment and death threats,” she said.

Chestcore accused members of the Army’s 21st Infantry Battalion in Kalinga of harassing health workers who organized training workshops in the Kalinga farming villages of Lubuagan and Pinukpuk towns from 2007 to 2011.

Three Chestcore workers—Rosalinda Suyam, Cynthia Dacanay and Milagros Ao-wat—reported receiving messages on their mobile telephones that identifed them as communist rebels “who should be buried six feet under,” the group said.

“We have been intimidated and harassed … Yet the CHR did not recognize the merits of our case, treating the documents as papers that must stand in court,” a Chestcore statement said.

“How can we begin the investigation? By investigating the entire AFP?” Kub-aron asked. “We do not have the coercive power to demand [telephone service providers to trace the calls], but we will still coordinate with them. The complainants did not specify any individual [who may be charged directly with the threats],” he said. Desiree Caluza with a report from Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon