Morong 43: health professionals under the Inquisition in Philippines

There is today an interesting article at La Haine (in Spanish, an English version can be read here), by James Petras and Robin Eastman-Abaya, on the kind of Colombian-like violence and oligarchic terrorism that dominates the Filipino political landscape, where votes are forced by the means of institutional terror by a handful of feudal lords (and ladies, as President Macapagal).

A particular focus is the inquisitorial forgery of the case against 43 physicians and nurses that were arrested at a professional meeting in the locality of Morong, where they were discussing a plan for intervention in case of epidemic after the disaster caused by typhoon Ketsana.

They were rounded up and brought to a military camp where they were tortured. They are (gratuitously) accused of belonging to the guerrilla New People's Army.

The decane of the College of Physicians of the University of Philippines described the arrests, tortures and accusations as part of a pattern of terrorism against physicians comitted to the rural areas, where the situation is generally awful.

The issue has been covered in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet however the mainstream press has ignored the matter completely, because Gloria Macapagal and her terror regime are a key ally of the Empire in the area.