Churches condemn arrests

Christian leaders around the world, including some from Canada have condemned the arrest of 43 health workers in the Philippines, and said they are worried about reports that the detainees are being tortured.
The workers came from Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, where they had been detained since their arrest last February 6 at the Morong, Rizal farmhouse of doctor Melecia Velmonte, chair of the Community Medicine Development Foundation (Commed) and an infectious disease specialist.
The workers were allegedly conducting a bomb-making training, according to the military which conducted the raids.
Relatives and non-government organizations associated with the workers have repeatedly denied the arrested men and women were members of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Part of the Philippines (CPP).
They also slammed the military for what it said was the illegal arrest and torture of the workers.
The 43 health workers accused of being communist rebels were presented before the Court of Appeals last week after the Supreme Court ordered the Philippine military to do so.
Omega Bula, Executive Minister of the United Church’s Justice, Global and Ecumenical Relations Unit called on the Government of Canada to condemn the arrest of the 43 health workers,
“We call on the Government of Canada to help safeguard the future of democracy in the Philippines by putting pressure on the Philippine government to take immediate and concrete steps to implement measures to stop and prevent election-related violence and human rights abuses.
The United Church of Canada strongly condemns the arrest by 300 government security forces of two medical doctors, a nurse, a midwife, and 39 health workers in the Philippines on February 6, 2010.”
Bula said the unfounded accusations that the victims are known members of the New People’s Army “lead us to believe that the arrest and detention of these health workers are linked to the state agenda to terrorize those who struggle for human rights as the country approaches presidential election in May 2010.”
“We are informed by our Philippine partners that this is part of the campaign to discredit political parties and organizations, including party-list groups, who are critical of the government, and a campaign to harass and intimidate the supporters of political parties and organizations, including party-list groups, who may pose a serious challenge to those who are entrenched in power during the coming election.”
Reverend Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, joined other church leaders in expressing his concerns in a February 11 letter addressed to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and members of her cabinet.
He called for the immediate release of those detained.
“I am distressed by the reported news that the detainees have been subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment amounting to torture and that they have been deprived of their basic human rights while in custody,” said Tveit.
Reverend Michael Wallace, general secretary of the Geneva-based World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), said: “The World Student Christian Federation has long been aware and concerned about the extra-judicial killings that have been perpetrated by factions of the military in the Philippines against young people, students, trade unionist, and people opposing Ms Arroyo’s government.”
Wallace and WSCF chairman Horacio Mesones said in a statement that they believe the actions in the Philippines are “intimidation tactics to frighten and weaken those who struggle for human rights and to alleviate the sufferings of the marginalized.”
They said the arrests are aimed at “the opposition forces engaged in campaigning for the presidential election of May 2010” which they described as a political threat “to those currently in power.”