Dr. Maria Natividad “Naty” Marian Castro. (Photo courtesy of Menchi Castro)
A “big success” was how Dr. Maria Natividad “Naty” Castro described the dismissal of her kidnapping and serious illegal detention case, as she remained in disbelief over her early release from detention.
“This was difficult to overcome,” said Castro in an audio recording played during a virtual press conference hosted by her family, friends, and supporters.
“This is a big success and an extraordinary success, my swift release from this kind of case,” the public health and human rights advocate said.
But Castro expressed concern over other political detainees who needed prayers and support. Other political detainees at the Agusan del Sur provincial jail where she was held were happy for her, and many were hoping to also walk out of detention like her.
“There are a lot that we have to help, to give all our support as well, us doctors, our services are very much needed in jails,” she said. Castro said most human rights workers in Mindanao’s Caraga region have been detained for years.
“There are so many things happening in Mindanao that are so heartbreaking,” she said.
Her younger sister, Menchi, said their family was going through a “process for healing.” She thanked her sister’s colleagues, friends, human rights groups, and lawyers who all assisted the family.
“It has been deeply traumatic to our family, and particularly to Dr. Naty,” Menchi said.
Sr. Mary John Mananzan, the superior of the Manila Community of Benedictine Sisters and former president of St. Scholastica’s College in Manila where the 53-year-old community doctor graduated high school, hailed Castro’s release.
Mananzan praised Castro, the 1986 class valedictorian, for being an “exemplar of what a Benedictine Scholastican student is.”
“We are so proud of Dr. Naty,” Mananzan said. “We saw her dedication to the poor and the oppressed and as you know, St. Scholastica is really for education for justice and social transformation.”
Both Menchi and Mananzan called for vigilance due to a possible plan by the police and the prosecutor to ask the Bayugan City Regional Trial Court to reconsider its decision to junk the kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges against Castro.
The court dismissed the case against Castro on two grounds—denial of her “substantive right” to due process and lack of jurisdiction over the doctor.
READ: Court frees Doc Naty, calls PNP arrest ‘repugnant’
‘Preposterous’
The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), which alleged that Castro was a central committee member of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), said it was “greatly dismayed” by the court’s decision, which “comes as a shock.”
In a statement, the NTF-Elcac said it was hoping that the court would reconsider its decision “amid the apparent legal blunders that the court committed.”
“The court can still drop the hammer against Castro for the atrocities she committed and would be committing now that she is yet again prowling like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour,” it said.
The NTF-Elcac said it was “preposterous” that the court under Judge Fernando Fudalan Jr. had not acquired jurisdiction over Castro because the alleged kidnapping victim, Bernabe Salahay, supposedly positively identified Castro as the one who kidnapped, detained, and threatened him in 2018, in Sibagat, Agusan del Sur.
Fudalan—the same judge who issued the warrant against 468 persons linked to the kidnapping—said there was no probable cause in the absence of evidence proving Castro was among those who abducted the victim. Castro’s true name did not appear in the warrant of arrest issued by Fudalan.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR), which welcomed Castro’s release from detention on Thursday, said the NTF-Elcac was risking being called a “joke” if it kept its relentless Red-tagging of activists, groups, and even government officials and agencies.
Labeling persons and organizations as CPP members or sympathizers makes them targets for persecution, prosecution, and physical attack by state forces or state-sponsored armed groups.
“If they don’t stop what they are doing and it’s not based on facts and the evidence, they are going to be a joke,” CHR Commissioner Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana said when sought for comment about the continuous Red-tagging.
“What if indeed they determined someone who was really allied with the communists, then no one would believe them, right? Their credibility, by that time, has been eroded by their whimsical [Red]-tagging of people and organizations,” she said. —WITH A REPORT FROM DEXTER CABALZA INQ
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