MANILA, Philippines - Lawyers of the detained "Morong 43" health workers will appeal before the Supreme Court the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) issued on Wednesday denying their petition for habeas corpus.

In a statement, lawyers Romeo Capulong and Rachel Pastores said they have "no other recourse but to elevate the case to the Highest Court."

Capulong said the Court of appeals "seriously disregarded the litany of blatant violations of the constitutional rights of these 43 health workers from the time that they were unlawfully arrested and the continued abuse of their basic human rights in the hands of the military."

He said the Court of Appeals, in its decision, followed the martial law-era Supreme Court ruling in Ilagan vs. Enrile.

Capulong said this doctrine "declares that a petition for writ of habeas corpus becomes moot and academic once an information/indictment is filed in court and a warrant of arrest or an order of commitment is issued against the person detained."

Forty of the Morong 43 were charged on February 11, 2010 with illegal possession of explosives after they had filed a petition for habeas corpus. Three of the 43 were charged with illegal possession of firearms.

Capulong said the Morong 43's "right to due process has been gravely violated by the recent CA ruling." 

He said the Supreme Court, in its ruling Umil vs. Ramos, exhorted all courts that in all petitions for habeas corpus, "the court must inquire into every phase and aspect of petitioner's detention, from the moment petitioner was taken into custody up to the moment the court passes upon the merits of the petition, that only after such a scrutiny can the court satisfy itself that the due process clause of our Constitution has in fact been satisfied, and that if the conditions set by the Constitution or the rules are not met, the petitioner must be ordered released."  

The Morong 43 had asked the Court of Appeals to look into the legality of their warrantless arrests and to order their immediate release, but the appeals court rejected their petition.

Capulong said it is "high time the Supreme Court re-examine this antiquated doctrine which has served as a tool of the government, the AFP and the PNP to carry out the unlawful warrantless arrest and arbitrary detention of members of progressive organizations."

Last February 6, 43 doctors, nurses, midwives and community health workers were rounded up in the farm house of Dr. Melecia Velmonte in Morong, Rizal where they were attending a health training seminar. 

Capulong and Pastores said "they were blindfolded, handcuffed and taken at gun point to Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal."

They were also "held incommunicado, some in solitary confinement, subjected to prolonged tactical interrogation and physical and psychological torture, and denied access to their relatives, lawyers and doctors days after their warrantless arrest." 

The military has denied torturing the Morong 43.

The 43 are still detained at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.