MANILA — A community doctor arrested due to kidnapping with serious illegal detention charge has been moved to a provincial jail, her lawyer said Tuesday.

Dr. Maria Natividad “Naty” Castro was transferred to the Agusan del Sur Provincial Jail on the basis of a commitment order issued by a Bayugan City court, her lawyer Wilfred Asis told ABS-CBN News in an interview.

“She has undergone, I understand, an x-ray procedure because I had insisted that she should be physically and medically examined because she had a lot of illness and ailments,” he said, citing hypertension and diabetes.

Castro, a former official of rights group Karapatan in the Caraga region, was arrested on Friday morning and was then flown to Davao City before travelling by land to Bayugan City, where she was detained in a police facility before her transfer.

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All the while, Castro was in handcuffs, according to his lawyer.

She was also neither allowed to call her family or lawyer nor given access to medicines, her family earlier said.

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Asis intends to file a motion to dismiss the case on Wednesday, on the ground that it did not go through preliminary investigation, the stage where prosecutors determine if there is probable cause to file a case in court.

“The Supreme Court said that a person who is supposed to be charged with anything is entitled to undergo a preliminary investigation and has the right to confront the witnesses against him during the investigation,” he said, quoting a Supreme Court ruling.

“As far as we are concerned, there was no PI, eh kasi, ni walang notice. You know, when you conduct a preliminary investigation, you are supposed to notify the respondent so that the respondent can submit her counter-affidavit and the witnesses she may present. It’s supposed to be a fair and square process whereby the respondent, particularly, or because of the presumption of innocence under the Constitution, is supposed to be given a chance to show she did not commit any crime at all or any act that would be considered illegal,” he added.

Asis will also question the very case itself, noting the lack of details in the information or the charge sheet as to who exactly was kidnapped.

He pointed out, the information accused 458 names.

ABS-CBN News counted around 550 names, some of which were single word aliases.

“Can you imagine 458 names in the information and all that it is saying is that these people have illegally detained someone without really mentioning the name of the illegally detained? At tsaka walang statement kung sino ang complainants, walang statement kung sino ang witnesses (And there was no statement as to who were the complainants, no statement who are the witnesses),” he said.

The doctor’s name itself was only indicated as “Dra. Maria Natividad” in the arrest warrant, with her family name omitted.

“If she were the one really who’s supposed to be arrested and who’s supposed to answer for the accusation against her, as defined by the prosecutor, your name should have been completed. They had 2 years to do that,” he explained.

According to a press release by the Philippine National Police, the warrant of arrest was issued in January 2020. It was served only last Friday or more than 2 years after its issuance.

Asis also claimed Castro was already in her residence in San Juan City when the alleged kidnapping took place between December 2018 and February 2019.

He also questioned why military and police officers from Butuan City had to fly to Metro Manila to effect the arrest on Castro.

The Philippine National Police and the Interior department had earlier defended the manner of arrest.

Malacanang chimed in on Tuesday.

“All law enforcement authorities maintain that the proper procedure was followed. If the lawyer of Dr. Naty would like to question that, again, all legal remedies are available to them and their client,” acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said.

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Various groups including the Commission on Human Rights have questioned Castro’s arrest, particularly the accusation linking her to the communist rebel movement.

• CHR probes arrest of community doctor Naty Castro

Nograles denied they were engaged in red-tagging but the PNP’s very own press release on Castro’s arrest accused her of being a high-ranking member of the Communist Party of the Philippines central committee and of being the head of CPP-NPA’s national health bureau based in Butuan City.

Her family has denied these allegations.

• Castro a doctor for the masses, not a member of CPP-NPA, says family

For Castro’s lawyer, the case is clear:

“Dr. Naty was just practicing her profession and actually lending her knowledge of medicine to the Lumads in Agusan del Sur.
So, if you are trying to practice your profession, you are curing those who are sick, why should you be accused of kidnapping?” he asked.

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