43 suspected Reds nabbed in Morong training seminar
By Maricar Cinco, Marlon Ramos
Philippine Daily Inquirer – www.inquirer.net
Monday, February 08, 2010
CAMP VICENTE LIM, LAGUNA—State forces on Saturday raided a resort in Morong, Rizal, owned by a prominent Manila doctor and arrested 43 suspected communist rebels attending a training seminar.
Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato, spokesperson of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, said those arrested in the resthouse of Dr. Melecia Velmonte, a consultant at Philippine General Hospital and professor emeritus of the University of the Philippines’ College of Medicine, were “ranking New People’s Army (NPA) leaders.”
In a mobile phone interview, Detoyato said the raid also yielded guns and high explosives. “They rented that place to conduct a seminar on bomb manufacturing,” he said.
But Velmonte refuted the military’s claims. She said that those arrested, among them 26 women, were community health workers attending a training course organized by the nongovernment organization Council for Health Development.
Velmonte, who was not arrested, assailed members of the raiding team who, she said, entered her three-hectare property “without respect.”
“I was at the gate when they came at around 6 a.m. They did not bother to identify themselves. They were very disrespectful,” she said in a phone interview.
“They were so many. I saw four six-by-six trucks, a military tank and two police mobiles,” she added. She said her help was told at gunpoint to open the gate for them.
She said the men entered her property without explaining to her what the raid was about.
Asked how she felt, she replied: “I’m not afraid. I’m very angry at those soldiers and policemen.”
Velmonte said the participants were members of various NGOs from Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, Mindoro and Pangasinan.
She said she even gave a one-hour lecture on the treatment of infectious diseases on Friday night.
“I agreed (to let them use the place) because it’s an advocacy. They want to help people in the remote areas,” said Velmonte, one of the country’s foremost experts on infectious diseases.
The Velmonte resort compound consists of a residence, a guest house and a conference pavilion.
The health training seminar, Velmonte said, started on Feb. 1 and was supposed to end on Sunday.
“(The military) said they recovered a grenade and a landmine from one of the beds of the participants,” Velmonte said. But she suspected the weapons were “planted,” since the soldiers searched the rooms without anyone else standing as a witness.
At least 300 heavily-armed soldiers and policemen conducted the raid, added her son Jose Manuel Velmonte.
Jose Manuel questioned the legality of the raid, saying the search warrant shown to them was issued against a “Mario Condes.”
“We don’t know that person. I think the raid violated several provisions of the law,” he added.
He said the soldiers ordered all the people to leave the area while they were scouring the place. “Then all of a sudden, they supposedly saw those guns and bombs,” he said.
“They entered the rooms first before they called us to witness the raid,” he said.
Detoyato, however, insisted the search was legal as it was covered by a warrant issued by Imus, Cavite, Judge Cesar Mangrobang.
He identified the weapons recovered as a .45-cal. pistol, a .38-cal. revolver, three grenades, an improvised landmine, Claymore mines, two kilograms of ammonium nitrate, blasting caps and 37 explosive sticks.
Campaign materials for the Bayan Muna party-list group were likewise taken by the raiding team, he said.
“We have been conducting surveillance operations against that group. We are sure that those persons were really NPA members,” he said.
Detoyato said the suspects were brought to Camp Capinpin in nearby Tanay town. With a report from Beverly T. Natividad
CHR to probe AFP raid in Rizal
By Katherine Adraneda
The Philippine Star – www.philstar.com
Monday, February 08, 2010
MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will conduct an investigation into the military raid on a rest house in Morong, Rizal, where 43 health workers and doctors were detained last Saturday on suspicion of being communist rebels.
CHR Chairperson Leila de Lima strongly condemned the arrest and the refusal of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to allow CHR personnel to visit the detainees.
“This is an affront to our institution as it is a disrespect to our mandate,” she said. “We will lodge a formal protest on this matter with the AFP leadership.”
De Lima had dispatched a quick reaction team (QRT) from the CHR-National Capital Region at Camp Capinpin to check on the condition of the arrested persons.
However, the military authorities blocked the entry of the CHR team who waited for hours until De Lima ordered them to pull out of Camp Capinpin, headquarters of the 202nd Infantry Brigade of the AFP.
“To preserve the dignity of our institution, and upon recommendation of our NCR Regional Director, I have decided to pull out our team from Camp Capinpin, rather than expose them to further indignities borne out of the camp authorities’ continued refusal of entry. It is most condemnable,” De Lima said.
She reminded the military that the CHR has visiting powers as expressly guaranteed in the Constitution, noting she also received prior reports that the military is also not allowing visits from relatives and friends of the arrested health personnel.
Various groups have condemned the arrest, saying it was an “illegal raid and a violent abduction.”
The Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the arrested which consist of two doctors, a nurse, midwife and health workers.
HEAD secretary-general Dr. Geneve Rivera said the victims were falsely accused of holding a bomb making seminar. She insisted that they were conducting health skills training at the rest house of Dr. Melecia Velmonte, a consultant of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH).
HEAD said the military and police teams, which were led by Col. Aurelio Baladad and a certain Superintendent Balonglong, respectively, had the training participants line up, frisked, blindfolded, and forcibly brought to Camp Capinpin.
The group likewise said that the personal belongings of the health workers and doctors, as well the training materials used were all confiscated by the military.
“The raiding team used bogus search and arrest warrants, and disregarded the rights of Dr. Velmonte, who owns the property,” Rivera added.
The umbrella militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) likewise denounced the “Gestapo-like mass arrest” of the health workers and doctors.
Bayan said that the alleged explosives found in the house of Velmonte were “obviously planted” by the military and police.
Meanwhile, the police said they are ready to file charges of rebellion and other criminal offenses against the 43 suspects,
In a phone interview with The STAR, Col. Noel Detoyato, 2nd Infantry division commander, said charges of illegal possession of explosives and firearms and violation of Omnibus election code and rebellion are set to be filed by authorities at the Regional Trial Court in Morong, Rizal. – With Sheila Crisostomo, Michelle Zoleta and Ed Amoroso
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