Nanay Perla fumbled with her beaded necklace while she gives an account of her visits to her daughter in prison. Tatay _ meanwhile handed her a cup of champorado (chocolate porridge), “Ito lang muna ang kinakain namin bilang pakikiisa sa fasting nila Jaq.” (This is the only thing we eat in unity with Jaq and her group’s fasting.) She fights back tears when she continues to recount the stories of her daughter’s experience in the hands of the military in Camp Capinpin, Rizal, Philippines. She lightly touched her beaded necklace, “Gawa ito ni Jaq. Binigyan namin sila ng mga beads at nylon para gawing mga porselas at kwintas. Pampalipas oras.” (Jaq made this. We gave them beads and nylon to make into bracelets and necklaces to pass the time.)

Nanay Perla and Tatay _ are among family members taking the daily trip from Quezon City to visit loved ones, the detained health workers in Camp Capinpin, Rizal, Philippines. Their daughter, Jaqueline Gonzales, or Jaq, as she is fondly referred to among friends and family, is one of the 43 health workers illegally arrested last February 6, 2010 in Morong, Rizal, Philippines.

Ever since her daughter’s arrest, Nanay Perla never missed an opportunity to visit Jaq. The trip from their home in Valenzuela to Rizal would take a few hours, one way. Arriving in the military camp, the visitors would only be allowed to see and talk to their loved ones for about 5-10 minutes, just enough for a few hugs and tears. “Natatakot kami na kapag minsan lang kaming hindi makabisita ay saktan nila si Jaq,” Nanay Perla said. (We fear that if we missed one day of visit, they would hurt Jaq.)

Human Rights Violations

Two doctors, a registered nurse, two midwives and 38 volunteer community health workers comprised the arrested group. At the time of the arrest, they were involved in a Community First Responders’ Health Training held by the Community Medicine Development Foundation (COMMED) and the Council for Health and Development (CHD) in Morong, Rizal. Their venue was raided in the morning of February 6, 2010 and their arrest was on the pretext that they were members of the New People’s Army (NPA) and that the training being held in Rizal was actually for bomb-making.

The arrest based on a defective search warrant and the detention of the health workers is illegal. At the time, they were even denied legal counsel and medical treatment. Reports of torture, sexual harassment among the women detainees and other forms of human rights violations have been reported by the detainees in the hands of their military captors. According to the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), the continued detention of the innocent health workers in the military camp would subject them to further physical and mental torture. The group, now more popularly known as the Morong 43, has started fasting last April 13 in protest to the delay of their transfer from Camp Capinpin to Camp Crame, a civilian detention facility.

Concern for Health Workers

The news of the Gestapo-like arrest of the health workers and the subsequent human rights violations has immediately sparked an outrage not only within the country but the international community as well. Various organizations have called for the health workers’ release. Furthermore, the medical community has expressed fear that health graduates, workers and volunteers would be discouraged to work in rural areas of the Philippines. This is in addition to the growing number of health professionals opting to go abroad for higher pay. Not only are they facing the lack of opportunities in the country, they now have to think of their own safety and security.

Conrado de Quiros, a famous columnist in the Philippines slammed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in his column, There’s the Rub, in the Philippine daily Inquirer, last February 16, 2010,

… The AFP’s logic has always been that even if the people they arrest, or abduct or kill, are doctors or health workers, they are also NPA, who are merely using health care to advance their cause in far-flung areas. Well, if so, then that is not a good reason to arrest them, or abduct them, or kill them. That is a hell of a good reason to join them. If their cause brings them to heroically risk life and limb and forgo the conveniences of city life, particularly Metro Manila life, many of the suspects being professionals or NGO members, to bring life to the dying, then we can do worse than support that cause. If, on the other hand, the cause causes the people who are responsible for health care, among other cares, to not provide it because of greed, and cause them to order the military to arrest, abduct or kill the people who do because they make them look bad, then we ought to stop paying taxes to that cause…”

In a country wherein social welfare is least prioritized by the government, community workers and volunteers are truly invaluable.

Fight against Impunity

“Hindi ko alam na totoo palang nangyayari ang ganito. Gusto lang naman tumulong ng anak ko pero siya pa ang nalalagay sa panganib,” (I did not know that this sort of thing really happened. My daughter only wants to help but instead she is put in danger.) Nanay Perla muses, describing the case of her daughter and the rest of the health workers. Nanay Perla is one of many relatives of health and community workers, activists, journalists, and the like who have been arrested, abducted or killed under the Arroyo government.

The illegal arrest and detention of the health workers, physical and psychological torture, denial of legal counsel and medical treatment, fabrication of evidence, coercion of witnesses, defying the order of the Supreme Court are clear manifestations of the Arroyo regime’s tolerance of impunity in the country.

This state of impunity, however, only manages to strengthen the people’s resolve to fight it. It even managed a smile from Nanay Perla as she prepares to leave with the other relatives of the health workers going to Camp Capinpin. “Tulad nga ng sabi ni Jaq, walang bibitaw.” (Just like what Jaq said, no one should quit)

N.B. As of press time, 38 of the 43 health workers have already been transferred to Metro Manila District Jail in Bicutan, Taguig City, from Tanay, Rizal.

By Jennifer Binegas