MANILA, Philippines — Groups renewed their call for the temporary release jailed young mother Reina Mae Nasino to be with her dying three-month-old daughter.
KAPATID, a support group for families and friends of political prisoners, called for the immediate release of Nasino and allow her to be with her daughter currently confined the ICU of the Philippine General Hospital.
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Kapatid said that baby River has not left the hospital since she was brought by her grandmother, Marites Asis, on September 24 due to diarrhea and fever. The baby was later diagnosed with pneumonia. Latest information on baby River said that the infant is not responding to antibiotics.
“The doctors said that Reina Mae should visit her baby now while she is still alive,” Kapatid said.
“KAPATID appeals to the Court and prison authorities to allow Reina Mae to be with her baby who is struggling for survival. There is nothing more heartbreaking for a mother than being separate with her child whose life is now at greatest risk,” the group added.
Motion filed
Nasino gave birth to baby River at Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital on July 1. She and her newborn child were returned to the city jail the following day.
The National Union of Peoples Lawyer on Friday are filing a Very Urgent Motion for Furlough for Nasino's temporary release on Friday afternoon so she may stay with her dying child.
The motion was electronically filed on Friday afternoon before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 37.
Nasino's lawyers said that the doctor on October 9 reported that baby River's lungs "have succumbed to bacterial infection and are quickly deteriorating. She is no longer responding to medications and may expire any moment now."
They plead that court place Nasino on furlough "so that she may be with her baby during her last days."
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"Allowing the movant to be reunited with the baby, if only to give her comfort during the last days of her brief life, will also be in the best interests of the child," the motion further read.
The Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 20 earlier denied Nasino’s motion to be allowed to stay at the hospital or the prison nursery with her newborn daughter until the baby turns a year old. They were separated when baby River was one-month-old.
Gabriela Women’s Party also appealed for the release of Nasino noting that she already suffered trauma for her arrest. “Now, she is being forced to watch her child suffer in hospital while she is being held in prison under trumped-up charges,” it added.
SC petition
Nasino is one of the 22 political prisoners who asked the Supreme Court for their humanitarian release in April, fearing a coronavirus outbreak in our overcrowded prisons. She was then seven months pregnant.
After a five-month wait, the SC ruled on their petition and directed their plea to lower courts. On September 10, the SC Public Information Office said that the justices directed the trial courts where the detainees’ cases remain pending to “conduct the necessary proceedings and resolve the incidents immediately.”
Kapatid said that the SC ruling only meant another long wait for the sickly and elderly prisoners.
“The issue is about exercising the judicial power of compassionate intervention and equity jurisdiction to protect those least able to protect themselves. The issue is essentially about humanitarian considerations as a ground for the grant of bail in cases where it is a matter of discretion. Because a remedy for unsafe conditions need not await a tragic event,” Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim said.