February 20, 2022 ⁠— Dr. Maria Natividad Marian Silva Castro, an alumna of the University of the Philippines Manila College of Medicine Class 1995, was arrested on February 18, 2022 in San Juan City, Metro Manila. Dr. Naty has dedicated her medical career to providing health services to the poor people in the rural areas of Agusan and other parts of Mindanao as their community physician since 1996 after her graduation. She has become a staunch human rights defender, specifically of the lumads and indigenous communities whom she has been attending to all these years. She is practicing what the UP has envisioned its graduates to be ⁠— community-oriented using the primary health care approach intended for the underserved.

The joint WHO and UNICEF Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care, endorsed in 1978 by 134 countries including the Philippines, clearly states that health is a basic human right and the attainment of the highest level of health is a worldwide social goal. Dr. Naty has brought this advocacy to the halls of various agencies, including the United Nations in Geneva and the European Union Council in Brussels where she presented the poor plight of the lumads and how their rights as historical and cultural stewards of their land and heritage are being trampled upon in the name of so called development.

We are all concerned in the UP Manila community including the UP College of Medicine and the Philippine General Hospital that another doctor practicing in the underserved areas where we have asked our graduates to serve is again being maligned and red tagged. We still remember with sadness and anger the deaths of our own graduates: Dr. Bobby De la Paz, Dr. Johnny Escandor, and Dr. Lou Tangco. We pray this does not happen to Dr. Naty. May justice be served and her rights under the rule of law be respected and upheld.

We urge the UP Community and the Filipino people to support us in this call for ensuring the safety and welfare of Dr. Naty Castro. We embrace the Castro family and pray for strength as they endure this difficult time of uncertainty and hardship.

(Sgd) CARMENCITA D. PADILLA, MD
Chancellor

(Sgd) CHARLOTTE M. CHIONG, MD
Dean, College of Medicine

(Sgd) GERARDO D. LEGASPI, MD
Director, Philippine General Hospital

(Sgd) MA. CRISTINA P. CRISOLOGO, MD
President, UP Medical Alumni Society, Inc.