IBP president raises questions on justice system after death of Baby River

Integrated Bar of the Philippines president Domingo Egon Cayosa raised questions about the country's justice system following the death of a three-month-old child who was separated from her mother, a detained activist, weeks after birth.

"The tragic death of 3-month-old Baby River Nasino highlights the need to do more, better, faster in the justice sector," Cayosa said Thursday.

River was the daughter of 23-year-old activist Reina Mae Nasino, who was arrested almost a year ago on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. River died of pneumonia last October 9.

Nasino was given three hours on Wednesday to step out of the Manila City Jail Female Dormitory to attend her infant daughter's wake, but her visit was marred with tension when her guards tried to pull her out before the furlough was up.

She will also be allowed to attend River's burial for another three hours on Friday.

"Why can't our justice system safeguard the needs and rights of an innocent child to breastfeeding and a better chance to survive?" Cayosa said in a statement.

He questioned why Philippine jails do not have adequate facilities for children and women detainees as recognized by law, and whether there are "double standards" when "bigger" detainees are given the same or greater privileges.

"Why does it take so long to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights?" he said. "Can we not have justice with compassion?"

"Let our concern, dismay, or rage and the tears that we may shed for Baby River Nasino fuel our collective determination and action to improve our justice system," Cayosa said. 

"Let not our innocent children fall through the cracks. Babies have rights  and we have duties to nurture them. Let our humanity rise above our personal comforts or the privileges of power," he added.

47 guards

The National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL), which represents Nasino and other activists in court, called out jail authorities for its "deception and overkill."

Though the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology had sought a shortened furlough for Nasino on account of a supposed lack of personnel, dozens of jail staff and police officers ended up accompanying her at the wake.

The NUPL said around 47 jail and police officers, some with high powered firearms, escorted Nasino.

"The jail guards flanked Ina wherever she went and refused to let her speak with her family and counsel or view her baby in private. Except for a few minutes, Ina's hands were shackled," the NUPL said in a statement.

"While she was responding to questions from the media, the jail guards tried to whisk her away, not once, but twice, to bring her back to jail even before her time was up," it added.

The lawyers questioned the authorities' treatment of Nasino, claiming it was the officers who overcrowded the wake and did not observe social distancing.

"It is clear that Ina's escorts came to scoff at her grief by destroying the solemnity of the funeral with tension, fear, and intimidation. They arrested her on fake charges and caused the early separation of her baby in jail. What is another act of cruelty and injustice?" they said. —KBK, GMA News