Political detainee, newborn baby, returned to jail

A progressive group is calling for the release of a political detainee along with her newborn baby after she was brought back to the Manila City Jail two days after she gave birth.

Lawyer Rey Cortez, National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), said Reina Mae Nasino and her daughter were brought to a separate cell at the female dormitory.

The mother and child were allowed to stay at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital for at least a week “to ensure continued medical attention for an underweight newborn,” according to Kapatid, a support group for families and friends of political prisoners.

The group urged authorities to release Nasino and her daughter on recognizance or on bail amid the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) threat.

“No baby should be put inside prison especially at this time of the pandemic. Exposing both an infant child and her mother to the real threat of coronavirus infection defies logic,” the group said in statement on Friday.

Earlier, the NUPL filed a motion before a Manila court for Nasino to be allowed to stay at the hospital or at a prison nursery for at least a year so she can breastfeed her daughter.

According to the motion, there are 80 detainees cramped in Nasino’s jail cell, that supposedly can hold a maximum of 40 inmates only.

The NUPL also argued that at least 517 persons deprived of liberty at Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) prisons have tested positive for COVID-19 as of May 2020.

Nasino, along with two other activists, was arrested in November 2019 at the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Manila Office in Tondo, where police reportedly found firearms and explosives. Perjury charges were filed against the arrested activists, who have yet to be arraigned as of June 2020. (Minka Tiangco)