Catanduanes Forum

'Morong 43' appeal case before CA
Philstar.com - Thursday, March 11

MANILA, Philippines – Lawyers for the 43 health workers arrested during a raid in Morong, Rizal, today appealed the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) dismissing a petition for habeas corpus.

Lawyer Rachel Pastores of the Public Interest Law Center filed the Notice of Appeal at the CA together with the families of the detainees. The appeal will be elevated to the Supreme Court.

Outside the CA, some 200 protesters from the militant group Bayan, Health Alliance for Democracy and Karapatan assailed the three CA justices who ruled against the 43 health workers, then lauded the two CA justices who dissented from the majority vote.

Also present during the protest was Gabriela representative Luz Ilagan whose husband, lawyer Larry Ilagan, was arrested in 1985, giving rise to the now infamous Ilagan vs. Enrile doctrine.

Atty. Ilagan, who was illegally arrested on May 10, 1985 along with two other lawyers, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus before the Supreme Court. Before the court could rule on the petition, charges of rebellion were filed against them.

“We are asking for the Ilagan v. Enrile doctrine to be revisited,” said lawyer Romeo Capulong, lead counsel for the 43, who is also with the PILC and the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL).

“It should not have been followed, especially in the case of these 43 health workers," he added.

In denying the petition for habeas corpus, the CA followed the Supreme Court's 1985 ruling in the case of Ilagan v. Enrile, in which the High Tribunal declared that once an information or indictment is filed in court and a warrant of arrest or order of commitment is issued against a detained person, a petition for the writ of habeas corpus becomes moot and academic.

The detainees had been nabbed during a raid at a house in Morong, Rizal, last Feb. 6 by military and police. They were caught allegedly with bomb-making chemicals by authorities.

They are now detained at a military camp in Tanay, Rizal, and are now facing criminal charges. - By Dennis Carcamo (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)