Detainee asking for humanitarian release amid COVID-19 pandemic gives birth

One of the petitioners in a pending Supreme Court (SC) case for the humanitarian release of vulnerable detainees during the COVID-19 pandemic has given birth.

Reina Mae Nasino gave birth to a girl at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital on Wednesday and has asked the Manila court handling charges against her to allow her to stay at the hospital or at a nursery at the city jail with her daughter until the child is 12 months old.

Nasino, 23, is one of the detainees urging the SC to order their provisional release, fearing their age, pre-existing illnesses, and in her case, pregnancy, compounded by poor jail conditions make them vulnerable to COVID-19.

The detainees' lawyers claimed their clients, though charged with common crimes, were arrested for their political beliefs and would not escape trial if temporarily released. They said continued detention amid the pandemic would be a "virtual death sentence."

The SC has yet to resolve the petition nearly three months after it was filed.

Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta said on June 11 that deliberations on the case were delayed because the justice in charge of it was stranded in the Visayas, but he said the petition was likely to be resolved the week after.

The case is still pending.

In the past few months, Peralta released administrative circulars that, among others, allowed reduced bail for indigent detainees and the electronic submission of applications for bail and other court pleadings. The SC said more than 20,000 detainees have been released during the COVID-19 crisis.

For now, Nasino has asked the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 20 to allow her to be with her child for the next 12 months, either in the hospital or at a separate enclosure at the Manila City Jail where she could breastfeed.

"The cruel and inhumane conditions of her detention at the Female Dormitory of the Manila City Jail are disadvantageous for breastfeeding," her lawyers said in a motion.

Kapatid, an organization of families and friends of political prisoners, said Nasino's giving birth proves the urgency of the case at the SC.

Nasino was among three activists who were arrested at Bayan's office in Tondo, Manila in November 2019. Nasino, Ram Carlo Bautista, and Alma Moran were accused of illegal possession of firearms. —LDF, GMA News