Senator reminds military responsibility on “Morong 43” (1:20 p.m.)

MANILA -- 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 they could present the suspected rebels during the hearing on the case before the rights body due to the absence of a court order.

"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.

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.

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 town in Rizal. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)