The Philippine military presented 43 people it says are communist rebels to a Manila court Monday for a hearing on allegations the detainees are actually health workers who were falsely charged and tortured in detention.

The detainees were brought to the Court of Appeals on army buses and handcuffed to military escorts for the hearing, which brings to the fore allegations of military abuses of suspected communist rebels and sympathizers.

The military has accused the group of belonging to the New People’s Army, the armed wing of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines, which has waged a 41-year insurgency. They have been charged with illegal possession of weapons and explosives after a Feb. 6 raid on a residential compound in Morong township, east of Manila.

The military said they were holding bomb-making seminars and giving medical training, and that two pistols, three grenades, land mines and bomb-making materials were seized from them.

Alexis Montes, a doctor, told the court that since they were detained he and his colleagues had been subjected to prolonged interrogation, denied their right to counsel and held incommunicado at a military camp.

One of the group’s lawyers, Romeo Capulong, asked the court to have his clients transferred from the military camp to the national police headquarters, citing restrictions the military had imposed on lawyers’ visits.

A government prosecutor argued the lawyers were not allowed inside the camp for security reasons after they refused to give their names. The military has also denied the detainees were tortured.

The court gave both sides until Wednesday to present summaries of their positions.

The Supreme Court had ordered the military to present the detainees last Friday, but the military missed the deadline, saying it needed more time to handle security and logistical issues.

The military’s stance angered presidential candidates taking part in a forum Monday ahead of May’s election.

“It is like as if we are back in martial law under the guise of democracy,” said Sen. Jamby Madrigal, an independent.

Another candidate, evangelist Eddie Villanueva, blasted the “blatant human rights suppression” and called for the sacking of military officers who refuse to obey the rule of law.

Former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and opposition Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III also slammed the delays in the military’s compliance with the court order.

AP News: By TERESA CEROJANO,Associated Press Writer – Tuesday, February 16

Reference: http://ph.news.yahoo.com/ap/20100215/tap-as-philippines-communist-rebels-fe2a5de.html