STUDENT council officers on Thursday slammed the Philippine National Police (PNP) for its “inhumane and blatant harassment” of jailed activist Reina Mae Nasino and her three-month-old baby River who died on Oct. 9.
The Central Student Council (CSC) and college student councils, in a “unity statement,” said the Philippine justice system had failed for its refusal to give Nasino “adequate medical attention and rejecting her plea to be allowed to take care of her child.”
“Time and again, the Duterte regime continues to deliver selective justice […] by allowing [traitors to the country to properly mourn their dead] while denying the common Filipino people’s right to grieve in peace and silence for their loved ones,” the statement read.
“Nothing is more brutal [than] for a mother to be abusively dragged away from holding her child in her remaining days.”
The statement criticized the PNP’s “merciless and insolent treatment” of Nasino who remained handcuffed and forbidden to hold her baby daughter during the wake.
It called on the government to be held “accountable for the cruel death of baby River and for the harassment of critics, activists, and political prisoners that deprives them of their human rights.”
“The death of Baby River reflects the state’s failure [to improve] the deteriorating healthcare system and their favorable treatment towards convicted corrupt politicians […] the law can never protect anyone when tyrants are first to defy, violate and ignore the rights of his people.” It said.
The student-leaders also urged Thomasians to be vigilant and stand against the “evident abuses of the fascist Duterte regime.”
Nasino, 23, was arrested in November 2019 and charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Nasino, who claimed that the “evidence” against her and her fellow activists were planted by the police, spent most of her pregnancy at Manila City Jail and gave birth to baby River on July 1 at the Dr Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital.
She was separated from her daughter despite her pleas. Baby River died on Oct. 9.
Nasino was initially granted a three-day furlough to say goodbye to baby River, but it was reduced to six hours after the Manila City Jail Female Dormitory said it lacked the manpower to guard Nasino.
In the past, Philippine courts easily granted temporary freedom to some political personalities for medical check-ups, weddings and birthdays.
