‘Morong 43’ charge Arroyo with torture

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Eight members of the “Morong 43” on Thursday charged former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and 18 others in the Department of Justice (DOJ) with torture and other human rights violations the health workers suffered when they were arrested and detained in 2010.

Edre Olalia, counsel of the health workers, said the case against Arroyo was the first criminal charge filed against a former Philippine president for human rights violations.

He noted that the human rights cases filed against the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos were civil cases.

“The complaint serves as an eloquent reminder to GMA (Arroyo) that she will not get away with the inhumane acts that her administration fostered or tolerated,” Olalia said at a press briefing at the DOJ.

“This will put to test the application of the dictum on command responsibility. It will also be an acid test for the antitorture law, which ironically was signed by Arroyo into law in 2009,” he added.

In a 25-page complaint,  eight health workers  said  Arroyo, former Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Victor Ibrado and former Army chief General Delfin Bangit, “by virtue of their offices, had actual knowledge of the commission of the torture against us, and are criminally liable … under the principle of command responsibility.”

Elena Bautista-Horn, spokesperson of Arroyo, now a Pampanga representative, said the former President was saddened by the filing of the charges because she had nothing to do with the case.

“However, she feels this may present a good opportunity to uncover the truth behind the incident. We will answer all the charges at the proper time,” Horn said in a statement issued late Thursday afternoon.

Arroyo is currently detained at a government hospital in Quezon City on a charge of electoral sabotage.

Colonel Arnulfo Burgos Jr., spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, reserved comment on the charges, saying he has yet to get details of the complaint.

Other respondents

Besides Arroyo, Ibrado and Bangit, the charge sheet included Major General Jorge Segovia, Brigadier General Aurelio Baladad, Army Colonels Joey Reyes and Cristobal Zaragosa, and Police Superintendents Marion Balonglong and Allan Nobleza.

Other respondents were Major Manuel Tabon, Lieutenant Jovilee Cabading, a certain Vicente Lopez, female guards identified only as Calaoagan, Cea and Idloy, a certain Bulaklak, a John Doe, Jane Doe and Mickey Doe.

The complainants—Doctors Merry Mia Clamor and Alexis Montes, registered nurse Gary Liberal, registered midwife Ma. Teresa Quinawayan and community health workers Mercy Castro, Reynaldo Macabenta, Jane Balleta and Samson Castillo—said they were tortured and suffered other abuses while they were detained at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal province.

The health workers were arrested on Feb. 6, 2010, in a military-police operation at a farmhouse in Morong, Rizal, where they were holding a workshop in community health service.

They were accused of being members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) training to make explosives—a charge they have denied. They claimed that the firearms and explosives purportedly seized from them were planted by the raiders.

Handcuffed, blindfolded

The complainants said they were “handcuffed with plastic wires and blindfolded with cloth reinforced by packing tape, and remained so for more than 36 hours.”

Montes said that his interrogator tried to force him to admit that he was an NPA member and that every time he denied the accusation, “I would be hit in the chest repeatedly.”

“A few moments later, I felt someone touching my hair as if trying to attach something; it felt like small alligator clips, which were probably connected to an electric power source and were placed on my head,” Montes said.

“[It] numbed my hands and arms, disabled me from walking, made my eyes and face feel heavy, made me sleepy, and made both my thighs twitch. I was made to drink water mixed with undissolved granules, and made to smell something,” he said.

He said the alligator clips were removed only when he started to feel chest pains and had difficulty breathing.

Torture ‘SOP’

“I had to be bodily lifted from my seat as my whole body was numb and I could not stand. (Respondent) Vicente would later tell me that physical torture is ‘SOP’ to them,” Montes said.

Clamor said she and the others were not informed why they were arrested and were not apprised of their rights, especially their right to remain silent and to consult a lawyer of their own choice.

“I was subjected to prolonged interrogation which started on the day we were arrested and lasted until Feb. 21, 2010. They interrogated my colleagues almost nightly and this lasted until dawn,” Clamor said.

Sleep deprivation

“I also experienced mental and/or psychological torture during the interrogation like sleep deprivation and threats of bodily harm and execution,” she added.

Clamor said she was questioned while hearing “threats and noises like the screams of women being hurt which made me nervous.”

“Continuous threats of bodily harm were made against my person and against my spouse and children, which stilled fear and nervousness whenever I think that the soldiers would make good their death threats,” Clamor said.

“In one instance, when I asked to use the toilet, although they allowed me to do so, I was accompanied by a guard and the guard did not untie me and did not remove by blindfold,” she said.

“Worst, it was the guard who pulled my trousers down, and put it back after I finished relieving myself, inflicting immeasurable shame,” she added.

Complainant Castro said her interrogators threatened to bury her alive and abuse her sexually while Balleta said she was placed in solitary confinement.

“I was also made to wear diapers since they did not want me to go back and forth to the comfort room, resulting in so much discomfort that made me sick,” Balleta said.

More than half of the Morong 43 were ordered freed on Dec. 17, 2010, after the regional and municipal trial courts of Morong dismissed the charges against them.

On President Benigno Aquino III’s behest, the Department of Justice had withdrawn the charges—illegal possession of firearms and explosives and violation of the election gun ban.

Poisonous tree

Cristina Palabay, spokesperson of the human rights group Karapatan, said Mr. Aquino himself had said that the arrest and detention of the health workers were “fruits of the poisonous tree.”

“It is, however, lamentable that instead of immediately prosecuting those responsible for their illegal arrests and incarceration, the promotion of these military and police officers are being effected,” she said.

“It is déjà vu, similar to the period of former President Arroyo, when Major General Jovito Palparan Jr. who, despite many cases filed against him, was heaped upon with promotions and accolades,” she added. With reports from Cynthia Balana and Dona Pazibugan, PDI and Tetch Torres, INQUIRER.net

Originally posted at 01:06 pm | Thursday, May 03,  2012