Pregnant woman's arrest a déja vu of Rosal's ordeal

The Infanta Regional Trial Court Branch 65 approved on July 1, the motion for urgent hospitalization of political detainee Maria Miradel Torres at the Taguig-Pateros District Hospital.

"While we welcome the Court's decision, we demand Torres' immediate release for humanitarian reason. Torres, who is four months pregnant, is weak from profuse bleeding and is experiencing threatened abortion. It doesn't help that she was transferred from one jail to another, and moved back and forth from jail to the hospital for check-up. We say it again, we don't want another Andrea Rosal here," said Marie Hilao-Enriquez, chairperson of Karapatan.

Torres was illegally arrested by joint elements of the National Bureau of Investigation and the Intelligence Service of the AFP last June 20, and forcibly brought to Camp Nakar in Lucena City. Due to her condition she was confined at the station hospital of the camp.

It was only on June 21 that she saw the warrant of arrest issued on June 20, 2014, the same day of her "arrest" by the Infanta RTC branch 65. Torres was charged with murder.

On June 25, Torres was transferred from Camp Nakar station hospital to Camp Bagong Diwa-female dorm in Taguig City. On June 26, Torres was brought to the Taguig-Pateros District Hospital for check up. Despite her condition, she was not confined for lack of a court order. The following day, Torres refused to be brought back to the hospital for an ultrasound test because she felt too weak to travel.

Torres stays in a small cell with three other detainees; one inmate reportedly has tuberculosis. She was advised by the doctor who examined her to have complete bed rest but the inhuman condition inside the jail is unfit for her delicate pregnancy. Lawyers who visited Torres on June 25 saw her lying on a plywood bed. Her things, including medicine, were confiscated by the military while they were on the way to Camp Bagong Diwa.

"The Aquino government has showed its fangs once again with the arrest of another pregnant woman. Evil is an understatement to describe the treatment of the government to pregnant women like Maria Miradel Torres and Andrea Rosal. Both were going through difficult pregnancies when state forces arrested them on spurious charges," said Hilao-Enriquez.

Cristina "Tinay" Palabay,

Secretary General Karapatan