The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is now looking into whether the police violated their rights in the arrest of community doctor Natividad Castro, who is accused of being a member of the central committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) – a group that is not illegal.
On Friday, police arrested 53-year-old Castro on charges of “kidnapping” and “serious illegal detention” in San Juan City. Despite this, it was questioned whether the method of arresting the doctor, former secretary-general of Karapatan-Caraga, was under the law.
“There is an allegation that some [officers] are not in uniform, they were not properly identified. And then the force deployed is more than what is required… So we are looking into this, whether our arresting officers followed the rule of procedure,” said CHR chair Leah Armamento.
“We can file charges, administrative or criminal, against erring police officers, the team [who caught her].”
Castro is known for building several Lumad schools and providing medical services in the province. Apart from this, she was one of the resource persons who spoke to the United Nations to show the human rights situation of the indigenous people under President Rodrigo Duterte.
CHR: Arrest of doctor activist ‘questionnable’
Castro was immediately taken away from her family and lawyers when first arrested. On Saturday, the PNP public information office chief PBGen disclosed. Roderick Alba flew the accused to Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur. On Sunday, the Free Legal Assistance Group said that the doctor was visited by her two siblings.
It may be recalled that the FLAG said the police denied Castro his hypertension and diabetes medications, in addition to not providing them with a copy of the warrant of arrest.
The doctor was charged with allegedly kidnapping a member of the CAFGU Active Auxiliary in Sibagat, Agusan del Sur, on December 29, 2018. In addition, the accused allegedly heads the national health bureau of the communist party in Barangay Libertad in Butuan City.
Castro’s brother denies this and said that only healthcare workers are said to be building community health centers and programs in Mindanao. The CPP is still different from its armed army, the New People’s Army.
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