An organization of lawyers on Tuesday, Oct. 13, criticized an official of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) for her attempt to limit political prisoner Reina Mae Nasino’s visit to the wake and burial of her three-month old daughter.
“The warden's puny excuse to clip Ina Nasino's 3-day furlough cannot supersede and defy a clear and executory order of a court of law,” said National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) president Edre Olalia.
Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 47 Presiding Judge Paulino Gallegos on Tuesday granted the motion that was filed by Nasino’s NUPL lawyers seeking furlough to go to the wake and burial of her daughter River.
The magistrate allowed Nasino to be at the wake from Oct. 14 up to the burial at the Manila North Cemetery on Oct. 16.
However, Manila City Jail Female Dormitory Officer-in-Charge Jail Chief Insp. Maria Ignacia Monteron wrote a letter to the judge asking to limit the visitation by only going to the wake on Oct. 14 and the burial on Oct. 16.
Monteron informed the judge that the female dormitory currently has 665 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) but only has 12 personnel to handle the facility.
She said the BJMP is “saddened with the death of Baby River Nasino” and sympathize with Nasino during “these hard times of her life.”
“But we cannot compromise the security and safety of other PDL who are still seeking our assistance,” she pointed out.
“With the resources of government, does it need an army to escort a grieving mother in deep bereavement and treat her like a hardened armed and dangerous serial criminal?” he pointed out.
Nasino, coordinator of the urban poor organization Kapipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) Manila chapter, is facing non-bailable charges of illegal possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives.
Nasino, who was arrested by police along with two other activists on Nov. 5, 2019 at a halfway house for members of BAYAN and other affiliated organizations, claimed that the firearms, ammunition, and explosives which were discovered during their arrest were planted.
Nasino is one of 22 political prisoners who filed in April a petition asking the Supreme Court (SC) to grant their temporary release for being vulnerable to the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
However, the SC decided to consider the petition as petition for bail and ordered the trial courts where they have pending cases to decide whether to grant them bail or not.
Nasino gave birth while in detention but had to entrust her baby to her mother, Marites Asis, last August after the Manila court ordered them separated.