The details behind the arrest of community doctor Maria Natividad Castro who was taken from her home in San Juan City on Friday, denied access to her family or counsel, and transported 800 kilometers away to Agusan del Sur without notifying her family or counsel are still unclear because the police officers responsible for her arrest have refused to provide records and copies of the warrant of arrest and documents related to her arrest and detention.
In a press release sent to reporters Saturday, the Philippine National Police claimed that Dr. Castro is a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines’ central committee and head of its national health bureau based in Barangay Libertad in Butuan City.
Caraga police also claimed that Castro was allegedly involved in the kidnapping of a member of the military’s Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit Active Auxiliary in Sibagat, Agusan del Sur on December 29, 2018.
The Free Legal Assistance Group and the arrested doctor’s family that were finally able to find her and spend time with her in Agusan del Sur insist that she is neither a communist nor a terrorist but is just a health worker who has been helping those who need help the most. FLAG said that Castro would pursue legal remedies over red tagging while the Commission on Human Rights is now investigating “possible violations” committed by the police in arresting and detaining her.
Red-tagging is defined in Philippine jurisprudence as “the act of labeling, branding, naming and accusing individuals and/or organizations of being left-leaning, subversives, communists or terrorists (used as) a strategy… by State agents, particularly law enforcement agencies and the military, against those perceived to be ‘threats’ or ‘enemies of the state.’”
The UP Manila community, from which Dr. Castro hails, has demanded her immediate release and called on the Duterte government “and its agents to be held accountable for the injustice and unnecessary pain a suffering inflicted.” Furthermore, they are “deeply concerned that the treatment of Dr. Naty Castro is sending a chilling message that will deter doctors from serving in the communities, especially since it is the government itself that is involved,” they said.
The case of Dr. Naty Castro and the “special” treatment afforded by the PNP does not bode well for a country that is already suffering a shortage of doctors in underserved communities. Her arrest that includes serious allegations that police prevented her lawyers and relatives from getting access to her; that the police refused to give them copies of the warrant of arrest, reports and documents related to her arrest and detention; and that she was denied her hypertension and diabetes medicines have raised questions that have to be answered so Filipinos can be assured that our country’s laws and law enforcers do not have a different set of rules for people they arbitrarily label as enemies of the state.
If policemen insist there was nothing wrong in doing what they did to Dr. Naty Castro, should other red-tagged Filipinos tagged be prepared to be treated similarly in the future?*
