‘Di nagpabaya’: Peralta says SC ‘did everything possible’ in the Baby River case

MANILA – It took no less than the Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta to defend the Supreme Court from criticism that it did not do enough to prevent the eventual death of a three-month-old baby separated from his detained mother.

“We do not neglect it. We try to help her, ”Peralta told reporters at an online press conference on Friday.

Baby River Emmanuelle Nasino was born on July 1 while her mother Queen Mae Nasino was (and still is) in detention, facing charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives following her arrest in November 2019 as part of a massive crackdown on the left and left. Support groups.

Baby River was separated from her mother on August 13 and died on October 9 of pneumonia while in the care of her grandmother. They buried her under heavy security last week.

Human rights groups have blamed the Supreme Court’s inaction for Nasino and 21 other petitioners to release sick detainees and the elderly vulnerable to contracting the coronavirus inside overcrowded jails.

The petition was filed in April, while Nasino was 3 months away from giving birth.

SC’s 15 magistrates voted on July 28 to treat the petition as a request for bail or recognition, leaving it to the lower courts to determine whether the petitioners are individually entitled to post bail.

Since most face non-bail charges, this requires hearings to determine if the evidence against them is not strong to qualify them to post bail.

Peralta told reporters on Friday that “already on July 28,” SC announced the decision, which it said should have given the signal that the request was not given in due time due to matters of fact.

However, the result of the SC vote was not announced by the Supreme Court’s Office of Public Information until September 10 or more than a month later.

Nasino’s attorneys did not receive a full copy of the decision until October 9, the same day River died.

The main decision was only 9 pages long, but 8 justices issued separate opinions that collectively reached almost 300 pages to argue varying positions on a number of issues, such as whether the SC ruling allowing former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile to post humanitarian bail could apply to political prisoners-petitioners and whether the UN Minimum Standards for the Treatment of Prisoners or the Nelson Mandela Rules could be applied in the Philippines.

“Pinaghintay niyo kami in binigo. You kept us waiting but you failed us, ”said Fides Lim, spokesperson for KAPATID, a group of supporters of relatives and friends of political prisoners, in response to the SC ruling.

The Karapatan alliance of human rights groups was more forceful in laying the blame.

“Baby River’s death is in the Duterte government: of the Philippine National Police led by the head of the National Capital Region Regional Police Office, Debold Sinas, who arrested Queen Mae and her companions based on in bogus search warrants issued by Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert and sowing evidence, the courts that repeatedly refused to hear the pleas of a suffering mother, the jail officials who shamelessly sought to reduce her license – her only chance to be with Baby River – using stupid and false alibis and blatantly disrespecting her right to cry properly during the wake of her own dead son by repeatedly trying to take her away in the middle of media interviews, hours before the allotted time for her permission has ended, ”he said in a statement issued just before River’s burial.

BAYAN Secretary General Renato Reyes, Jr. echoed this opinion.

“The courts did not protect the rights of the arrested political prisoners and activists either. From the lower courts to the Supreme Court, they have not acted when it mattered most. They could have issued a resolution in favor of the most vulnerable political prisoners but they did not, ”he said.

But Peralta on Tuesday sought to deflect the blame thrown at the courts.

“If only the CS had the power to go against the constitutional prohibition that cannot be rescued if it is capital punishment. If it is claimed that they can be released if the evidence of guilt is weak on humanitarian grounds, it is not necessary to present such a request immediately. But there are limitations. So that’s what happened, ”he said.

At a press conference in June, Peralta revealed that the judge in charge of the case was stuck in the Visayas to justify the delay in acting on the urgent plea.

On Friday, Peralta no longer mentioned this as part of the reasons for the delay, only pointing out that he could not blame his fellow magistrates because they have the right to write their own opinions within certain time frames.

“In fact, for me, my resolution is only 3 pages. But I can’t tell you, ‘oh, don’t write more than 30 pages, 40 pages.’ Say pwede yun. They also spent a lot of time preparing all these naman opinions, ”he said, referring to other magistrates.

Peralta also clarified why he believes that Enrile’s ruling could not apply to the case of political prisoners, arguing that Enrile went through a hearing at the Sandiganbayan.

“There is a basis huh. Based on the evidence huh. You know it. [if] you are a lawyer, you cannot simply rely on the charges. We decide on the evidence, huh. that’s the rule huh. So if you say it’s weak, etc., we can’t just, there are procedures to follow, ”he said.

At least 3 of Peralta’s fellow magistrates refuted this in SC’s decision, saying there was never a bail hearing for Enrile in the anti-corruption court.

Peralta revealed that he personally went to great lengths to instruct the judges of the Manila regional court of first instance, through the court administrator, José Midas Márquez, to act on Nasino’s separate pleas even before he died on baby River.

However, the Nasino family, according to the president of the Supreme Court, was not satisfied with the orders of Judge Marivic Balisi-Umali of the Manila RTC Br 20 and sought their inhibition.

It was Umali who denied Nasino’s earlier motions asking that she be allowed to stay in the hospital for a year to care for her baby.

When that was denied, Nasino negotiated a 1-year stay inside the female dormitory of the Manila City Jail, where she is being held, but the jail officials objected to this, citing the rules of the Bureau of Prison Administration and Penology. which limit the stay of a newborn child in the detention center to only up to 1 month.

Umali also denied that motion.

The case was re-raffled twice until it fell into the Manila RTC Br. 47 courtroom Judge Paulino Gallegos, who initially granted a 3-day license, only to shorten it to 6 hours after prison authorities objected. to the period.

By then, the baby River had died.

“I understand the difficult situation of Mrs. Nasino and offer my condolences. I take this opportunity to express my deepest condolences, “said Peralta.

“We tried the best year ha. And I hope that Ms. Nasino also understands the court and others. That’s what really happened, huh. There was no intention of delaying it. Talagang may have limitations kasi huh, “he added.