Gabriela: Rosal grieves, Napoles remains special

Andrea Rosal cradles her newborn Diona Andrea at the PGH. Her motherly joy, however, would prove to be short-lived. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Leftist groups and lawmakers blamed the Aquino administration for the death of Diona Andrea, the two-day-old daughter of alleged New People’s Army (NPA) leader Andrea Rosal, who gave birth at a government hospital two months after her arrest.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) offered condolences, but appealed to Rosal’s supporters not to use what it considered a family tragedy for political propaganda.

The women’s advocacy group Gabriela said the government’s refusal to bring Rosal to a hospital at a much earlier time was a factor that led to the infant’s death at Philippine General Hospital on Sunday afternoon.

The human rights group Karapatan earlier said the baby suffered from hypoxemia, or oxygen deficiency in the blood, and that she had been on artificial respirator and experienced seizures prior to her death.

“While Napoles, who stole millions of pesos from the Filipino people, is given preferential treatment and remains in the hospital weeks after her operation, Rosal was not allowed access to medical services until she was about to give birth,” Gabriela secretary general Joms Salvador said in a statement Monday.

Salvador was referring to Janet Lim-Napoles, alleged mastermind of the pork barrel scam, who in late March was allowed by a local court to leave detention at a police camp and undergo surgery at Ospital ng Makati, where she remained confined after the April 23 operation that removed her ovaries.

For Gabriela party-list representatives Luz Ilagan and Emmie de Jesus, the government’s treatment of Andrea—daughter of the late NPA spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal—violated international humanitarian laws on the treatment of pregnant prisoners of war.

The Geneva Conventions and related protocols take into consideration the conditions of pregnant women and provide for their pre- and postnatal needs during detention, the said.

The improper treatment of detained pregnant women increases the risk of miscarriage and permanent injury of the mother and unborn child, the lawmakers added.

“The chronology of events that led to her daughter’s death all indicate that Andrea Rosal was deliberately deprived of much-needed medical care while in detention,” they said, adding that Rosal’s custodians may be held to account for depriving her of medical attention, which is prohibited under the antitorture law.

Rosal was seven months pregnant when arrested in Caloocan City on March 27 on a warrant issued by a Quezon province court for kidnapping and murder, charges which she denied. She was transferred to PGH last week, when she was close to giving birth.

Gabriela noted that after her arrest, Rosal lived in poor conditions at a detention center that were unsuitable for an expectant mother.

Speaking to reporters Monday, AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said “we in the AFP sympathize with Andrea Rosal and her family. What just happened is really unfortunate and we extend our condolences to them.”

“But we appeal to her supporters not to use the death of the innocent baby to advance any political agenda. Let’s allow the family to mourn quietly,” Zagala added. “We understand Rosal’s plight. But her medical condition does not mean she’s above the law. She violated the law so she must be made answerable for it.”

Zagala maintained that the AFP had no direct hand in choosing Rosal’s detention site, noting that it was the Taguig Regional Trial Court that ordered her moved to the Special Intensive Care Area of Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City. The facility is under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

Through a motion filed by her lawyer, Rosal on Monday asked the court to let her leave detention to be at her child’s wake. The National Union of People’s Lawyers said the wake would be at the Church of the Risen Lord at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City and later in Ibaan, Batangas, Rosal’s hometown.—With a report from Jaymee Gamil