MANILA, Philippines – Detained community health workers collectively known as the "Morong 43" are in high spirits even as they mark their 10 months in jail, lawyers from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) said Tuesday.

Lawyer Edre Olalia, NUPL secretary general, said despite their detention for 10 months now, the health workers are not losing hope that they will be freed one day.

He said one of the health workers, identified as Eulogio Castillo, told the lawyers who visited them that they remain optimistic considering that there are a lot of people supporting their cause.

“Hindi kami pinanghihinaan ng loob dahil alam namin na nasa likod namin kayo (We are not losing hope because we know you are there to support us),” Castillo told the lawyers.

Castillo, who considers the group as political prisoners, said they also rely on the larger social movement to secure their release.

“We know that [the outcome of our case holds implications for other political prisoners across the country,” he said in the vernacular. He also thanked the domestic and foreign groups and personalities taking up the cause of their release.

Olalia said as a show of gratitude, the men and women separately entertained the lawyers with songs of hope. The women also taught the lawyers their signature four claps, three stomps and chant “Free the 43.”

Olalia, meanwhile, assured the group that they will not stop their support until justice is given to the health workers who marked their 10 months in jail last November 28.

“Those of us who are concerned that fundamental rights embodied in laws whose very purpose is to protect citizens from possible abuses by the state are disregarded in such a brazen manner, must take a stand,” he said.

Olalia also said that the detained health workers fully support the rally of lawyers and doctors set for December 2, 2010.

Legal and medical groups plan to march from España to Mendiola at noon, to ask the executive to drop charges against the Morong 43, on account of the illegality of their arrest and the subsequent search.

The Morong 43 were arrested in February this year, while undergoing a health training in Morong, Rizal. A joint police-military operation, using an alleged defective search warrant, swooped down upon the group early in the morning.