BLACK SATURDAY AND THE 53rd DAY IN DETENTION OF THE 43 HEALTH WORKERS

Black Saturday marks the end of the 40-day Lenten Season. Pledges of penitence, abstinence and repentance mark this Holy season observed by devout Catholics.

After 40 days. Jesus Christ will be resurrected in what we all came to know as the Easter Sunday.

But this blog post is not just about the Black Saturday or the Resurrection of the Lord.

This post is about the 43 health workers illegally detained, tortured and charged with trumped up cases. Jesus Christ would have wanted the 43 health workers freed for they have done nothing except to provide free health service to far-flung barrios, where health service was as scant as the food they eat.

Just like Jesus Christ, who had attracted huge crowds during his sermons to preach and teach about service and humility, the 43 health workers attracted patients who have long been denied of this very basic social service.

Service.

Yes, that's what the 43 health workers offered to our countrymen.

They should be freed the soonest time possible for they have not committed any crime.

Again, all they did was serve. Nothing more, nothing less.

To say that we are infuriated is an understatement.

The recent warrantless arrest of 43 health workers and filing of trumped up charges and concocted 'evidence' point to how GMA's bloody hands cannot stand a month or two without prying on innocent people siding with the oppressed majority.

Our resolve to ensure that GMA steps down after 2010 remains. Her wickedness may continue once she is elected Prime Minister but let us make sure first she vacates her post in June of this year and make her stand before the people and charge her with a number of cases against the people of the Philippines.

SAVE THE LIFE OF JAKATIA PAWA NOW!

Another life of an overseas Filipina is in peril. Another mother is languishing in a Kuwaiti jail, awaiting the final decision for a crime she did not commit. Once again, our urgent collective action is needed to save the life of a fellow Filipino and a fellow migrante worker.

Jakatia Pawa was sentenced to death on April 13, 2008 for allegedly killing the 22-year old daughter of her employer. The death sentence was upheld by the Kuwaiti Court of Cassation (Supreme Court) on January 19, 2010. The sentence will now be submitted to Kuwait’s Head of State, the Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber Al Sabah. It is understood that the decision will be made within two to four weeks.

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