Courts blamed for death of detainee’s infant daughter

Relatives and friends of detainees believed to have been arrested for their political beliefs are blaming the courts for the untimely death of the three-month-old daughter of a jailed activist.

Fides Lim, the spokesperson of the support group Kapatid, said Thursday that the courts failed to act even when they were pressed to ease conditions for 23-year-old Reina Mae Nasino and her baby, River.

"Are we blaming the courts? Yes, we are. You could have done something but you did not," Lim said.

At the same time, she acknowledged the suggestion of Supreme Court (SC) Justice Marvic Leonen for a way to address jail congestion: the writ of kalayaan, a remedy to be issued when "cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment" is established.

"Approve it," Lim urged the SC. "Don’t be a passive court; be an active, humane court. This is an issue not only about political prisoners but all prisoners who are elderly, very sick, pregnant, nursing mothers."

Nasino had cited her pregnancy when she joined a petition where detainees asked the Supreme Court to release them provisionally amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Other petitioners cited old age and their existing medical conditions as risk factors.

She gave birth to an underweight and jaundiced River on July 1, two months before the SC released a decision referring the detainees' petition to the trial courts where their cases are pending.

Nasino asked the Manila Regional Trial Court, where she faces charges for illegal possession of firearms, to let her stay with River until the child is a year old, but the judge denied her motion, saying the city jail has no facility for newborn babies.

River was hospitalized on September 24 after showing COVID-19 symptoms. She tested negative but was diagnosed with pneumonia. She died on October 9 before the court could act on her mother's motion to see her.

At a virtual press conference, Lim said breastfeeding was initially difficult for Nasino, a first-time mother, and that by the time her milk came, it was too late.

"Nung dumating na 'yung gatas ni Reina Mae, ito na rin 'yung panahon na lumabas na 'yung decision ng court na pinaghihiwalay sila," Lim said.

"Tapos nung nasa wake ako kahapon, ang sabi sakin ni Reina Mae, 'sumasakit ang suso ko kasi maraming gatas,'" she added.

Another judge allowed Nasino to visit River's wake for three hours on Wednesday and to attend the burial on Friday for another three hours.

She visited the wake Wednesday afternoon under heavy guard. Her lawyers have condemned the manner she was treated by the jail staff and police officers who escorted her.

Lim said the SC knew Nasino had given birth. She said she received an acknowledgement from the High Court that it had received her letter informing the justices of the development. 

SC Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier, in her opinion on the detainees' case, took particular notice of Nasino and her child, saying that she believed the detainee's baby is entitled to separate protection apart from what her mother would be entitled to.

"Hence, while I recognize and adhere to the primordial if not exclusive role of the Executive Branch in the fight against COVID-19, I believe that we have a role to play in protecting the baby from adverse consequences that are not of the baby's own doing," Javier wrote.

Her proposal was not discussed in the short decision of the SC, which only discussed that they were treating the case as an application for bail and referring it to the trial courts to resolve with "utmost dispatch." — BM, GMA News