So the AFP detained and tortured 43 health workers attending a health training in Morong. The AFP claim they are part of the NPA and the training is a training on bomb making or some other skills terrorists and rebels need to learn and not on health.

Having heard the military spokesperson on Crossroads (the ANC show):
- Why have you detained and prevented these people access to legal counsel for days?
- Even if they were rebels, you can not treat these people the way you treated them. And aren't we supposed to presume innocence even if we have overwhelming evidence at hand?

In italics are some things that the AFP claim support their accusations regarding the participants:
-Low educational attainment
-Event wasn't publicized
-Groups who support the Morong 43 are mostly leftists
-They have revealed their NPA affiliations during their detainment

The first two reveal how ignorant the military is regarding the prevailing approach towards community health. Educational background is irrelevant in health skills training. You do not need a college degree to be able to protect you and your community's health. You do not need to be the brightest one in the community to be able to pick up these skills. That is the purpose of the training anyway.

Trainings of community health workers are not publicized or advertised in the usual ways. It is not only due to the effin high expense to do these things but also the uselessness of these publicizing modalities. And no AFP, GOs and NGOs do not need to tell you about all the trainings they will conduct in an area. They, as a form of courtesy, will inform the local officials but not you. Why should they? Unless they seek help in maintaining security of the training site, they wouldn't interact with you. These trainings are indeed spread through word of mouth and communication channels already present in the community. Sometimes, the training is invitation only because the NGOs have already identified what communities are targeted and the only groups they will contact for participants. I repeat, they don't need to publicize these trainings. These are not huge events needing humongous number of attendants. They don't need to tell everybody, they just need to tell the involved communities.

The AFP also seem to have this notion that the organizers should have screened this people. No! They screen them if they are capable of giving back to their community by imparting or using their new skills but they don't screen for character, legal history or warrant of arrests. One, you don't have a good database of warrant of arrests easily accessible by the public or NGOs and two, that is not their job. That is yours. And lastly, why should they forbid people to learn these skills especially if these people are chosen by the community itself.

For the fourth, confessions made during torture is and should be invalid. Under torture and extreme stress, a normal person can be made to do anything. Given that the detainment seem to be one big torture fest, why give weight to their confession?

And for the third. That's one of the stupidest things I've heard in a long time (and I frequently read posts regarding quackery in SB). These groups are supporting the Morong 43 not because they are necessarily involved in them. Rather, they saw that attack on HR and the illegal nature of how the AFP handled the Morong 43 from capture to detainment. If you can let go of your bias against the left maybe you can realize that your attempts at hiding your mistakes is failing, greatly.

I wonder why the DOH is being mum about this though. DOH being a huge partner in promoting community health programs should have been one of the first to react to this. And a good thing they could do is introduce the AFP, PNP and other GOs to primary health care and community health.