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“We know that our enemies are human rights violators who respect no one but it is important to file the case if only to show that the government is violating its own laws.” – Morong 43
By RONALYN V. OLEA Bulatlat.com MANILA – Lawyers of health workers who filed a damage suit against former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and several military and police officials lambasted the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police...
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
“Sins against Filipino women are being committed on a daily basis.”
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“The culture of impunity in the Philippines must end. Extra-judicial killings of respected pastors and church leaders, most of whom were speaking against injustice in our country, show how horrible and unacceptable the human rights situation in our nation has been.” – UCCP Bishop Reuel Norman Marigza
By RONALYN V. OLEA Bulatlat.com MANILA – Health workers who sued former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for human rights violations are dismayed at what they described as the slow pace of the local court handling the case. Six of the Morong 43, or the 43 health...
At least five causes of action are being sought by the health workers against the former president and her officials involved in the case.
By Satur C. Ocampo At Ground Level | The Philippine Star Remember Jovito Palparan Jr., the notorious Philippine Army officer tagged by militant political activists as “The Butcher”? In 2007 the Melo Commission recommended Palparan’s investigation for extrajudicial...
Press Release: 14 April, 2011 Pursuing their campaign to defend Cordillera health workers as part of their continuing assertion of the people’s right to health, CHESTCORE in partnership with the UP Student Council and UP Kasarian Gender Studies Program held a forum...
“We have decided to file for moral and exemplary damages against former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her security officials for violation of our rights. This is but a small step to end impunity in our country. Yet, this a step forward in our long march for justice,” Gary Liberal, spokesman of the Morong 43, said.
By LYN V. RAMO
Why, they asked, are they being made to suffer human rights violations, when they have only been working for the indigenous farmers, laborers, small-scale miners and urban poor and, in the process, traveling long hours to reach far-flung villages, some of which could only be reached on foot?
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“My happiness is not complete because two of the Morong 43 are still in jail and hundreds more political detainees are still suffering,” Edwin Dematera told Bulatlat shortly after he was released.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
"Why do they keep on insisting that my husband Edwin is the Edwin Bustamante in the charge sheets? My husband is not a criminal,” Lyn Dematera said, in reaction to the continuing detention of her husband, one of the Morong 43.
Dr. Alexis Montes was wiping away his tears throughout the program on Feb. 3 organized by church workers who were involved in the campaign for the release of the Morong 43. It was evidently an emotional moment for him, less than two months after he and 32 others were released after 10 months in detention.
From the time of the raid and their subsequent arrest to the nightly interrogations, they were told that they did not have rights. But the "Morong 43" struggled on internally and against their captors, interrogators, and eventually their prison custodians.
A year ago today, the military and police illegally arrested and detained the "Morong 43" health workers. While most of them have been freed and are now trying to pick up the pieces of their lives, many still have nightmares and still feel vulnerable and exposed to danger.
Sidebar: 'Morong 43' Recall the Nightmare and the Struggle | Dr. Alexis Montes: ‘The Journey Is Not Yet Ended’ | Related Stories: Lawyers Push for Immediate Release of One of Three Remaining 'Morong 43' Detainees | What Newsbreak Failed to Report About the ‘Morong 5' | More 'Morong 43' stories, photos and video
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Atty. Julius Garcia Matibag of the National Union of People’s Lawyers and one of the legal counsels of the Morong 43, said they are hopeful that Edwin B. Dematera would soon be released because they have proven that he is not the same person being accused of rape before a Las Piñas court.
As a journalist who has been covering the Morong 43 from the day of their arrest, I know that the five, like the rest of the 43 health workers, are victims of torture and ill-treatment.
Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Public Information Office is hoodwinking the public when he says that AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Victor Ibrado is ordering the transfer of the 43 health workers collectively known as the Morong 43 to a Philippine National Police (PNP) facility, even as they have supposedly communicated their desire to remain at the military's Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, where they are now detained. He is trying to make the AFP and its chief of staff appear more magnanimous than they actually are.
By CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO Streetwise | BusinessWorld Posted by Bulatlat.com Pundits, activists and civil libertarians alike are still speculating on what actually led to last week’s order by President Aquino, auspiciously announced on Human Rights Day, for the...
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Two more of the so-called “Morong 43” were freed today, Dec. 28, after their lawyers convinced the court that the supposedly pending criminal cases that the police and military cited to prevent their earlier release involved namesakes.
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