PRESS RELEASE
March 18, 2010

The League of Filipino Students lambasted the Armed Forces of the Philippines for denying the constitutional jurisdiction of the Commission on Human Rights to determine and investigate human rights abuses by military personnel.

“Fresh from yesterday’s Supreme Court decision favoring Mrs. Arroyo’s right to appoint the next Chief Justice, the AFP today is running afoul with the last, final bastion of redress in government by denying the CHR’s right to investigate the circumstances of the illegal arrest and detention of the Morong 43. ”

Ridon indicated that the AFP’s failure to produce the 43 health workers in the CHR probe is contemptible action and must not be left unpunished, as the military has many times failed to produce the detained health workers on the flimsiest of reasons.

During the hearings on the 43 health worker’s petition for the writ of habeas corpus, the AFP had failed to produce the accused, citing supposed ‘logistical problems’ and an unsubstantiated threat of an ‘NPA ambush’.

“This continuing denial of the AFP to produce the 43 healthworkers in the CHR probe is proof that we are descending back into the darkest days of martial rule, where government critics are jailed, even killed, and government institutions such as the Supreme Court and the AFP are absolutely loyal to the executive.”

Ridon said that despite the AFP’s eventual submission for questioning by CHR commissioners, the failure to produce the 43 health workers had prejudiced the latter’s right to be heard and be given a chance to state the circumstances of their arrest, and even torture under military detention.

“The 43 health workers, especially our member, UP student Jacqueline Gonzales, must be permitted to explain the real events, and the true nature of her work as a barefoot health professional serving rural communities. There is nothing criminal in that.”