No One is Safe Against Duterte’s War on Dissent
The tragedy that is the death of the three-month-old infant River Nasino should concern us all.
In the early morning of 5 November 2019, Reina Mae “Ina” Nasino, urban poor organizer under Kadamay, was arrested in the Manila office of Bayan, on trumped-up charges of weapons and explosives possession, the usual case filed against activists. Eight months later, she gave birth in custody and was separated from her child immediately after, despite petitions to allow the mother and child to stay together until the infant is strong enough.
On the evening of Friday, 9 October 2020, the three-month-old River Nasino passed away due to Acute Respiratory Distress.
What does the case of Reina Mae and River Nasino mean for other activists and human rights defenders?
For one, the constant red-tagging and attacks against progressive groups have grown exponentially following the formation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC). Even the Presidential Communications Undersecretary, Lorraine Badoy, launches regular tirades against left-leaning politicians and organizations. The state’s disinformation campaign and the weaponization of unverified information made the “witch hunt” easier, at the expense of the constitutional rights, privileges, and even lives of the accused. Last September, social media network Facebook announced the removal of several coordinated disinformation networks in the Philippines and China. Accounts with links to the far-right, the military, and state security forces were also included in the purge. President Duterte responded by threatening the social media giant, the very tool that won him the 2016 presidential election.
This also exposes the state’s continual negligence of due process and constitutional rights. Teddy Casiño, the spokesperson for the left-leaning Bayan Muna party, condemned the weaponization of search warrants and the criminalization of legitimate political activities. The case of Ms. Nasino’s arrest is not new, as the planting of evidence is commonplace in the crackdown against activists. In 2019, over 58 individuals from Negros and Manila were arrested on trumped-up charges of weapons and explosives possession coupled with the requisite irregularities in the mass-arrests. Aside from faulty search warrants which pointed to places different from the premises which were searched, the “evidence” procured were recovered from casually visible places. This was the case for community journalist Anne Krueger and her colleagues in Negros.
This negligence extends during the detention of the accused. It is no secret that Philippine prisons are packed with inmates. Despite a budget increase for the BJMP, concerns on health and sanitation are still left unaddressed. Ms. Nasino requested to be provided with facilities to nurse her infant, but these were denied. At the time of writing, over 1,000 prisoners in different facilities have contracted COVID-19. Overcrowded cells, lack of sanitation, and an uncontrolled pandemic are certainly not conducive to a healthy pregnancy.
It is also important to recall that a string of members from progressive organizations has been murdered in the past months. A prominent example is Ka Randy Echanis, chairperson of Anakpawis and reform advocate. He was said to have been tortured and killed by extrajudicial elements in his own home. He was a political consultant for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and was also a key figure in the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB). Another is Zara Alvarez, former campaign and education director for Karapatan-Negros. On the 6th of May 2019, Karapatan and Gabriela filed a petition for the writ of amparo and habeas data. If granted, these would have given Zara and her colleagues a protection order against military and state security forces (Amparo) and would have compelled the government to delete information against them (Habeas Data). These petitions were denied and she was killed a year later.
Most harrowing of it all is that what happened to Reina Mae was not the first of its kind. In 2014, seven-month pregnant Andrea Rosal was arrested with her companion Edward Lanzanas, on their way to a prenatal check-up. Andrea was the daughter of the late Gregorio Rosal, spokesperson for the New People’s Army (NPA). At the time, Andrea and Edward were peasant organizers under the Pagkakaisa at Ugnayan ng mga Magsasaka sa Laguna (PUMALAG). Andrea was arrested on trumped-up charges of murder and kidnapping.
Karapatan cited that the warrant used to arrest her was invalid and that her companion was arrested without any charges. State security forces used controversial witnesses-for-hire to falsely implicate any individual suspected of being part of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA. Like Reina Mae, she was put in an environment that was not conducive to a healthy pregnancy and was not given adequate medical attention. As she was in labor, Andrea was brought back and forth from Camp Bagong Diwa where she was detained, to the Philippine General Hospital until she was finally admitted. On the 17th of May 2014, Andrea gave birth to Diona Andrea Rosal. The next day, baby Diona passed away due to hypoxemia or oxygen deficiency in her blood. It was only then that Andrea had the opportunity to hold her daughter in her arms.
Authorities are quick to respond that if the allegations were untrue, then they should have no problem in proving their innocence. However, if the law in the first place has been against them, what more could they expect in court? If people like Andrea Rosal were seen as an alleged communist terrorist by the association to her father, what more to the countless mothers caught in Duterte’s war on dissent, on human rights defenders, and activists? At a time where the law is weaponized against individuals who disagree with the government, lines are effectively blurred in favor of the state. Fascist policies like the Anti-Terror law enable the government to further distort the narratives to its advantage.
We call on all our fellow lingkod-bayan to uproot the institutions that work contrary to its mandate to serve the interests of the people. We cannot ignore this blatant disregard for the life of River Emmanuel Nasino and countless others before her. To turn a blind eye is to enable the powers that can turn against its people whenever it chooses.
