‘Time for Arroyo to speak up on Morong 43

Filed Under: Military, Human Rights, Justice & Rights, insurgency, Healthcare Providers, Torture

MANILA, Philippines—The Commander in Chief should speak up.

President Gloria Macapagal-arroyo was assailed on Tuesday for her continuing silence on the two doctors and 41 other health workers detained at a military camp who were taken at gunpoint by state forces from a training seminar in Morong, Rizal.

Sen. Loren Legarda, vice presidential candidate of the Nacionalista Party (NP), said the President should use her powers as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces to get to the bottom of the charges of sexual molestation and torture of the so-called “Morong 43” leveled at members of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division.

The soldiers are headquartered at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, where the 43 health workers have been held since Feb. 6 on suspicion of membership in the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

Political harassment

“As Commander in Chief and proclaimed champion of women’s rights, the President should look into [these charges],” Legarda, a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve Corps, told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

She said the issue was close to her heart as she had been pushing for the protection of barangay and community health workers.

“We cannot tolerate the fact that they are being harassed politically when they reach out [to people] in the hinterlands. We don’t have adequate and quality health care in the rural areas, and we owe it to the community health workers who provide these services,” Legarda said.

But she stressed that “due process must be [observed].”

“And that’s for both the volunteer workers, whom the military suspects of being members of the NPA, and the soldiers, whom one of the female detainees has accused of touching her private parts, as well as those of her companions,” she said.

Pressure to deny

One of the detained health workers is Jane Ballante, a granddaughter of the late congressman and labor leader Crispin Beltran.

According to Jane’s mother, Ofelia Beltran-Ballante, her daughter whispered that the jailers had touched her and the other female detainees’ private parts while they were in the toilet.

Jane Ballante subsequently denied the Philippine Daily Inquirer report, but the mother said at a press conference Tuesday that she was standing by her statement that the female detainees were sexually abused by their jailers.

“I understand her retraction. Her captor was right beside her, and there was pressure to deny it,” the mother said in a mix of Filipino and English.

Legarda said “it’s time” Ms Arroyo stepped in “because human rights violations were reportedly committed, and a mother has said that her daughter was abused.”

“If there’s a human rights violation, it must be proven and the culprits brought to justice,” she said.

She also rejected Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita’s statement that an investigation was not necessary because the allegations were mere propaganda by leftist groups.

The senator, a former broadcaster, said her political rivals would probably accuse her of speaking out on the issue “because I’m running for the vice presidency.”

“But remember that I was also a full-time journalist before I entered politics. We just want to get to the truth in this issue without anyone violating anyone else’s rights,” she said.

‘Not lying’

At the press conference in Quezon City, Ofelia Ballante said she was “not lying or misquoted” regarding the sexual abuse of her daughter.

“I stand by the statement I made to a newspaper that my daughter has been a victim of sexual abuse in detention,” she declared, adding that Jane had also told her two sisters about her ordeal.

Ballante said her daughter told her about the abuse during her first visit on Feb. 9, when the detainees’ kin were allowed to stay for five minutes, and repeated it on Feb. 10, when they were allowed to stay a little longer.

She said her daughter was not an NPA member, and that she understood why the latter denied the purported sexual molestation.

The mother added that Jane’s military escort, to whom she was handcuffed, took her to reporters covering the habeas corpus hearing to issue a denial.

“I understand her. I could feel that she was afraid of retaliation because she is still under military custody. But I stand by my statement that she and the other detainees were sexually tortured,” Ballante said.

The Supreme Court had earlier issued a writ of habeas corpus for the Morong 43 in response to a petition filed by their kin. It ordered the military to present the detainees to the Court of Appeals on Feb. 12. But it was only on Feb. 15 that the military did so.

Repeated ordeal

Holding back tears, Ballante said her daughter explained the ordeal she had to go through every time she used the toilet in handcuffs.

“Someone pulls her underwear down, washes her private parts, and pulls the underwear up again. My daughter found it very degrading and humiliating,” she said.

The Army has denied the charge of sexual molestation, and said only female soldiers or personnel were assigned to guard and assist female detainees, especially in using the toilet.

But Ballante said the gender of the soldier-escort did not matter.

She said that “since [my children] were three years old, they have been trained to do their [ablutions] in private.”

“It was torture for Jane to have someone present in her private moments,” she said. “I maintain that it’s not normal to have someone else with you in the toilet, particularly if it’s against your will.”

Ballante said Jane had apologized to her for the denial.

She said her daughter was suffering from the prolonged and repeated interrogations.

She also announced that a case against the military would be filed with the Commission on Human Rights in behalf of her daughter and the other female detainees.

“Those responsible should be held accountable,” she said.

Counseling needed

Gabriela party-list Representatives Liza Maza and Luz Ilagan, who were present at the press conference, also denounced the purported sexual abuse and called for the immediate release of the 43 health workers.

Ilagan said the health workers, especially the women, now needed psychological counseling.

“We can only imagine the mental and emotional torment the detained female health workers go through every minute they are held captive, knowing the historical and institutionalized notoriety of the military in abusing political captives,” Ilagan said.

Maza, a senatorial candidate of the NP, said: “Sexual abuse as form of torture is a serious allegation that warrants an immediate and impartial investigation. It is extremely disturbing to think of what the victims, most especially the women, have to go through day by day in the presence of their tormentors.”

“It is wrong for the military to issue a statement that the sexual abuse did not take place. It should be investigated based on the statement of the victim, not the suspect.”

‘Bounty-hunting’

Another senatorial candidate, Martin “Dr. Balikbayan” Bautista of the Liberal Party, condemned the arrest of the 43 health workers and said doctors were required to help anyone in need.

“Should a doctor be arrested and detained for treating ‘communists?’ When we took our oaths as physicians, we swore to care for all humanity,” Bautista said.

“I cannot accept the idea of 43 civilians being forced into a corner by a hundred-strong army of trained soldiers. They may be accused of being dissidents, but where proper protocol ended and blatant disregard of human rights began is what alarms me,” he said.

Bautista said the arrests resembled “the ruthlessness of bounty-hunting.”

“As a doctor, I cannot imagine being accused of such a grave offense when the nature of my profession revolves around providing medical attention and saving people’s lives, regardless of their political leanings,” he said.