Robredo decries ‘overkill, lack of humanity’ in Baby River’s burial

The deployment of a horde of armed guards to the burial of a jailed activist’s three-month-old baby was an “overkill” and “totally unnecessary,” Vice President Leni Robredo said Sunday.

Robredo decried the heavy police presence around urban poor organizer Reina Mae Nasino as her daughter River Emanuelle was buried at the Manila North Cemetery on Friday. 

Nasino was kept handcuffed throughout the burial, preventing her from saying a proper goodbye to her firstborn.

“Para sa akin, parang masyadong overkill… Nasaan iyong humanity natin doon, ‘di ba? Sa akin, mga nanay din tayo, mga magulang din tayo. Dapat naiintindihan natin iyong, ‘di ba, iyong complexity ng relasyon,” Robredo said in her weekly radio show.

“Hindi ko talaga maintindihan, kasi parang nawawala na iyong humanity sa atin. Parang totally unnecessary iyong klase ng response na binigay natin.”

Robredo also pointed out the stark contrast between the treatment given to Nasino and politicians who were similarly granted furlough.

“Hindi pantay iyong pagbigay ng pag-intindi, hindi pantay iyong pagbigay ng privileges sa mga mayroon kaysa sa wala. Nakikita natin ito. Ang daming personalities na binigyan ng pribilehiyo,” she said.

An Interior undersecretary earlier defended the police presence at the funeral as “anticipative,” not overkill. 

Nasino is facing charges for illegal possession of firearms and explosives, which her camp has said are trumped up.

A Manila court earlier granted the activist a three-day furlough to attend her baby’s wake and burial but later shortened it to just six hours upon the request of a jail warden. 

“Nasaan iyong compassion, nasaan iyong humanity? Iyon iyong hindi natin maintindihan. Sobrang nakakadurog ng puso tingnan iyong mga litrato,” Robredo said. —LBG, GMA News