A Supreme Court Justice’s call for relief for Baby River came late

MANILA, Philippines – Branches of government have a role to play in protecting “a baby from adverse consequences that are not the baby’s fault,” said a Deputy Supreme Court Justice, referring to three-month-old River, Jr. Political detainee Reina Mae Nasino.

“I don’t know if her baby is staying with her now. But if the baby does, he is entitled to separate protection from what his mother, Petitioner Nasino, would have, ”Deputy Judge Amy Lazaro-Javier said in her separate opinion.

“We have already been in quarantine for almost half this year, our courts and others have lost the equivalent of about six months of man-hours, all due to the REAL dangers to the life, health and general well-being of the entire population. from the Philippines and the whole world. I would like the Court to grant relief to Petitioner Nasino’s baby not because of the defendants’ ineptitude [referring to prison authorities], but as a result of the reality of the greater risks faced by petitioner Nasino’s baby from the facts of this pandemic, ”he said.

However, a 301-page copy of the ruling (nine pages for the main decision and the rest with several separate opinions) reached the petitioners’ attorney only recently, when the baby River had already died.

When the petition was filed, 22 petitioners, including Nasino, who was five months pregnant at the time, appealed to a fair appeal from the higher court to allow them temporary release because their condition made them more vulnerable to being infected with COVID-19 inside prisons. congested.

The petition was filed in April. In July, the higher court ruled that it should be the lower courts, where the 22 petitioners’ cases were pending, that should determine whether they were entitled to temporary release.

That same month, Nasino gave birth to a girl, whom she named River.

However, the parties in the case have not yet received a copy of the ruling. A copy of the decision is needed to determine the losing party’s next action. A copy of the decision arrived late last week.

Baby River died last Friday.

Nasino, through his advice, now again asks the courts for compassion, this time, to allow him to see his daughter in person for the last time.

In the nine-page sentence of July 28, all the magistrates ruled that the petition presented by the 22 political prisoners be treated as a request for bail or recognition to be resolved by the lower courts where their respective cases are pending.

Fides Lim, a spokesperson for Kapatid, said: “It has been a long, difficult, and painful wait because, while we expected swift and positive action, the Supreme Court, despite the prisoner’s life or death situation in overcrowded prisons and Plagued with diseases, they let go of five months and ignored the call of the prisoners who hoped at least a chance to survive. “

“Handwashing works for COVID-19 but not for SC in this petition,” he said.

The higher court said it could not grant a blanket decision for the 22 prisoners because their conditions of detention were different. They added that the case involved a factual consideration that only the lower court could decide.

The decision, however, did not indicate its author. Nor did it indicate that it is a per curiam sentence, that is, anonymous. When asked about it, the superior court spokesman, attorney Brian Keith Hosaka, said that even if not stated, the decision is considered per curiam.

According to the internal rules of the superior court, the decision will be per curiam if the case involves removal from service, disqualification or indefinite suspension, or by majority agreement or at the request of a member.

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