doctors, nurses, military, new people's army

The Armed Forces of the Philippines arrested on Saturday what it claimed were 43 suspected New People’s Army guerillas who were purportedly holding a training on how to produce bombs.

But Dr. Melecia Velmonte, the owner of the resthouse in Morong, Rizal where the 43 persons, has denied the military claims and assailed the AFP over the raid.

Velmonte is a professor emeritus at the University of the Philippines’ College of Medicine and a consultant at the Philippine General Hospital.

The 43 persons turned out to be doctors and other health professionals including those belonging to the Council for Health and Development (CHD), one of the many organizations which spearheaded initiatives to gather and distribute relief aid for victims of supertyphoon Ondoy last year.

Those arrested were holding a health training seminar at the venue, said Velmonte.

According to media reports, the 300-member raiding team of the AFP did not present a valid warrant of arrest against any of the 43 or a search warrant on Velmonte’s property.

Dr. Geneve Rivera of the Health Alliance of Democracy demanded the immediate release of the 43 arrested doctors and health professionals who have been kept in military custody at Camp Capinpin.

According to Rivera, among those arrested were Dr. Merry Mia of CHD, Dr. Alex Montes of the Community Medicine Development Foundation (COMMED), nurse Gary Liberal, midwife Teresa Quinawayan, a midwife and other staff of the CHD.

Rivera said that the military planted evidence. “The absurdity of the military’s story is confounding! The AFP conveniently finds these so-called weapons after confiscating all of the personal belongings of the participants as well as the materials used for the training.”

The military claimed that the raiding team found bombs under the beds inside Velmonte’s resthouse.

Since the raid and the arrests were made, the military has refused pleas from relatives to visited those who remain in its custody.

Time is running out for the military to correct this serious blunder.

The families and colleagues of the arrested and detained doctors and health professionals are going to file an urgent petition before the Supreme Court. 

Read more:  Action Alert issued by human rights group Karapatan