A human rights group on Thursday questioned the imposition of a 21-day quarantine period for political prisoner Reina Mae Nasino, who recently attended the burial of her daughter, Baby River.
(Photo by Jansen Romero / MANILA BULLETIN)
She reportedly told her mother, Marites, that she has to undergo quarantine for 21 days. That is seven days longer than the 14-day Covid-19 protocol of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Department of Health (DOH).
Karapatan said the 21-day solitary confinement violates the United Nations Committee Against Torture that states the full isolation of a person for 22 to 23 hours a day in super-maximum security prisons “is unacceptable.”
The United Nations also banned the use of solitary confinement for longer than 15 days because of its negative impact on a prisoner's mental state.
“She is alone and isolated, without any other fellow detainee with her for a longer period of time, making her vulnerable to jail officers, who are the only ones who may have direct physical access to her,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said.
“Even UN independent experts have opined that more than 15 days of solitary confinement amounts to torture,” she added.
Nasino, who is currently being held for the illegal possession of firearms and explosives, was granted 72 hours of furlough by the court last week, but jail officers shortened it to just six hours.
Controversies marred the burial of Baby River after police and jail officers interfered with burial arrangements and sped away with the casket, leaving mourners behind.
Kapatid, a group composed of political prisoners’ relatives, said the 21-day quarantine period is akin to “bartolina” punishment.
Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim already sent letters to the Commission on Human Rights and the International Committee on the Red Cross, calling on both institutions to check on Nasino because of the ”extraordinary cruelty she suffered in the hands of her prison officers.”
Lim added that the quarantine period “is too long and very worrying.”
Both Karapatan and Kapatid called on other civic rights groups to be vigilant “since officials of the Department of Interior and Local Government seem oblivious to criticisms on the harsh treatment on Nasino and her family.”
“We can’t help but sound the alarm and call for continued vigilance on her case,” Palabay said.
Nasino’s family, as well as representatives from the groups, and lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc inaugurated on Wednesday the mural for Baby River and slain peace consultant Randy Echanis.
The mural, made by artists group SAKA, was placed behind the Vinzons Hall of the University of the Philippines Diliman campus.
Baby River died of respiratory failure at three months while Echanis, a former National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultant (NDFP), was found dead in his rented home in Quezon City in August.