A women’s group and human rights alliance described the reduction of detained activist Reina Mae Nasino’s furlough as heartless.
Gabriela lamented that the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) denied a grieving mother enough time to mourn her three-month-old child.
“It is unconscionable for any government to separate a newborn baby from the arms of their mother,” Gabriela Deputy Secretary General Joan Salvador said.
The Manila Regional Trial Court reduced Nasino’s furlough from the previous three days to three hours Wednesday that allowed her to visit her baby River’s wake in Pandacan, Manila.
Nasino will be allowed to attend her child’s burial Friday. River died of pneumonia after being separated from her mother.
The court sided with the plea of BJMP, which claimed it had limited personnel who could be with Nasino during the furlough.
Gabriela cited numerous police officers accompanied Nasino at the funeral home and they even barred her from granting media interviews, causing a tense commotion in the wake.
“Ina had been imprisoned over trumped-up charges, separated from her child, and now, only saw baby River for the first time in months – lifeless,” Salvador said. “It is unspeakable heartless to subject women to this degree of torture.”
Human rights group Karapatan described the decision of the court to reduce the furlough granted to Nasino as a “merciless act of torture and injustice.”
Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said that “nothing could be more cruel than giving a grieving mother such false hope.”
“Baby River is already gone; all she’s asking is to be able to properly grieve this terrible loss with her family and see her child one last time. Wala ba silang mga puso?” she asked.