Political detainee Reina Mae Nasino and her newborn child. (FILE) Photo from Kapatid PID
MANILA, Philippines — A Manila court granted on Monday the petition for bail filed by political prisoners, including Reina Mae Nasino, whose late newborn daughter River got sick while separated.
In an order from the Regional Trial Court Branch 47 in the City of Manila, Nasino, and other accused, namely Ram Carlo Bautista and Alma Moran have been allowed to post bail.
Nasino and Moran can have provisional liberty if they can separately post a bail worth P300,000 and P120,000 or P420,000; whereas Bautista would have to settle a bail amount of P300,000, P120,000, and P150,000 or P570,000.
The court said the bail petition was approved because the prosecution failed to provide, at this point in the legal proceedings, strong evidence against the three.
“Wherefore, premises considered, for the failure of the prosecution to prove that the evidence of guilt against all accused are strong, the Joint Petition for Bail filed by all accused is hereby granted,” the court said.
Nasino was one of the several activists arrested during the search operations of various non-government organizations’ offices in 2019. When Nasino was nabbed for illegal possession of firearms and explosives, she did not know that she was already one month pregnant.
She then gave birth to River in July 2020. Her requests, either to be freed temporarily or to allow River to stay inside the Manila City Jail so that she could take care of her, were not granted by the court.
Nasino’s case then garnered attention after her camp tried to plead with the court to allow her to visit her sick child, who displayed COVID-19 symptoms. Hours before River died at the intensive care unit of the Philippine General Hospital, Nasino’s bid was not acted upon.
READ: Gov’t maltreated Nasino, daughter; violated int’l standards on prisoners — ICHRP
Controversy followed the government’s treatment of Nasino during her daughter’s burial, which activist groups said was “hijacked” after police asked the hearse to move ahead and leave behind the mourners.
READ: Nasino’s lawyers inform court of ‘cruel’ treatment during baby’s wake, burial