Pimentel reminds military's responsibility on ‘Morong 43’

SENATE Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) committed a “grievous mistake” and a “dangerous gesture” when it failed to present the 43 health workers before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) last Thursday.

Pimentel said the AFP, represented by military lawyers, gave a “flimsy excuse” by arguing that it could not present the suspected rebels during the hearing on the case before the rights body due to the absence of a court order.

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"I believe that the CHR, in exercising its powers as an independent constitutional body, has the right to require the AFP to produce the health workers who have been indefinitely detained in a military camp," the senator said in a statement.

"The duty of the AFP to protect the security of the state should be liberally interpreted in favor of safeguarding the human rights of accused citizens. Otherwise, the powers of the CHR in extending protection to victims of human rights violations will be unnecessarily impaired," he added.

Pimentel, who is also a human rights lawyer during the Marcos dictatorship, said he supports the earlier position of CHR Chair Leila de Lima that a court order was not required to compel the authorities to produce any complainants or witnesses, particularly the case of detained health workers.

“A contrary view would reduce the CHR to an inutile agency,” he said.

Authorities have already filed criminal charges against the detainees who were reportedly caught in possession of bomb-making chemicals during the February 6 raid in Morong, Rizal.

Supporters of the 43 alleged that the detainees suffered physical and psychological torture and hit the military for the “divide and rule” tactics employed inside Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.

Pimentel reminded the AFP not to act as if it were above the law by defying the summons issued by the CHR.

He said the military should refrain from actions that would make it difficult for the CHR to carry out its delicate investigative responsibility, given its inherent weaknesses arising from its lack of power to prosecute violators of human rights.

The opposition leader also joined various groups in challenging newly-appointed AFP chief-of-staff General Delfin Bangit not to tolerate any attempt of cover-up of alleged human rights violations by the military handlers of the health workers.

"They are raising so many alibis to evade accountability in the treatment of the Morong 43," Pimentel said.

Sun.Star tried to get the side of AFP through spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner Jr. but he could not be reached for comment. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)