Human rights advocates, youth groups, and political prisoners’ kin gathered in front of Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on the first year since the arrest of five activists from Manila and called for their release.
Reina Mae Nasino, Ram Carlo Bautista and Alma Moran were arrested in a raid via a search warrant on the Bayan Manila office in Tondo that police charged to have found illegal firearms and explosives.
Activist couple Cora Agovida of Gabriela Manila and Michael Tan Bartolome of Kadamay Manila were arrested in the same fashion inside their home with their 10-year old and 2-year old sons only 5 days earlier.
The groups further urged the release of all political prisoners under President Rodrigo Duterte’s watch and condemned the rampant attacks against legal dissent and criticism among activists and personalities with the Anti-Terrorism Law in place.
Marites Asis, mother of Reina, recalled the suffering of her daughter as a political prisoner and a mother of her then deceased firstborn baby Emmanuelle River. Asis decried since the lack of medical aid—such as prenatal check-up and the likes—to the separation of River to Ina which resulted to the baby’s early death.
“Nakakalungkot lang talaga isipin na tatlong papel ang tinanggap ko (receiving copy) ng mga ipinetisyon namin, pero wala pong tumugon. Tumugon lamang po nung namatay na ang aming baby,” Asis lamented.
Fe Symporios of Karapatan Metro Manila characterized the arrest of #Manila5 as part of a crackdown against activists when Major General Debold Sinas started as NCRPO Chief and bid goodbye to his Central Visayas Chief post behind.
“Ang mga hawak po nila ay mga placards, ang tanging mayroon sila ay mga boses na nananawagan lamang ng isang makatarungan at isang malayang lipunan. Kailanman hindi naging masama ang panawagang ito,” Symporios said.
On the same day as Agovida and Bartolome were arrested, more than 50 activists were arrested in Negros in simultaneous police raids on activist group’s offices, also on search warrants issued by Executive Judge Cecilyn Villavert.
BAYAN Metro Manila chairperson Raymond Palatino asserted that a way to counter the government’s efforts of sowing fear is the continuing struggle of the people for basic human rights.
“Tatapatan natin ang mga pananakot at terror ng ating aksyon para lumaban,” Palatino added.
League of Filipino Students NCR Chairperson Vince Impas said the crackdown on activists has started long before the ‘terror law’ was passed.
“But now with the terror law, the crackdown on activists would continue without the police needing to stage these raids and getting these search warrants from a cooperative judge. Also, other critics, and those speaking in behalf of activists or their rights, such as speaking out against what the government did to baby River and Nasino, are also now being intimidated. That is what Gen. Parlade and the NTF-ELCAC were doing by calling out Liza Soberano, Catriona Gray and Angel Locsin,” said Impas.
The protest ended with the families and relatives of political prisoners and desaparecidos tearing photos of President Rodrigo Duterte and his ex-military officials in Cabinet.
Harrowing stories of arrest, injustice
Agovida was only reunited with her sons after more than 24 hours, the younger one still breastfeeding. During their arrest and separation from his parents, the older one had asked aloud, “Are my parents dead?” Upon the surprise entry of police into their home, the whole family were told to drop to the ground with guns pointed at them, and the two children were also taken into custody and released days later.
Nasino’s story become one all too familiar to the whole nation.
Nasino spent almost her entire pregnancy in jail, only finding out she was pregnant due to a medical check-up requirement when her jailers transferred her from one facility to another. Nasino along with 21 others petitioned the Supreme Court in April to be released as the government ordered those vulnerable were being released to decongest jails during Covid-19. Her mother wrote the Supreme Court Chief Justice to plead for her release as her pregnancy progressed. Nasino got only one prenatal checkup and gave birth to River Emmanuelle on July 1 who had low birth weight, yellow skin discoloration and diarrhea. Mother and baby were sent back to jail a day after giving birth.
Lawyers petitioned for them to be together so Nasino could breastfeed and nurse her firstborn, but the court ruled in the MCJ warden’s information’s favor, and they were separated on August 13. The Supreme Court remanded the petition of Nasino to the trial courts hearing the pending cases against them—the decision was only announced on September 10 despite having been rendered on July 28. Baby River took a turn for the worse, was confined on September 24 and passed away on October 9 due to pneumonia.
Nasino was only given a furlough of three hours each for two days to attend the funeral and burial of her baby. River, Nasino and her furlough soon became national news due to the treatment of Nasino. She was handcuffed the whole time, was heavily surrounded with police making physical distancing non-existent, was given 47 escorts despite the jail requesting to shorten the three-day furlough first granted her for lack of personnel. The police also took control of River’s funeral, barring visitors during the last hours before the burial and racing away with the coffin to the cemetery, leaving behind the family and sympathizers.
