“It is impossible to nurse an infant inside the prison; more so in their damp, cramped and poorly ventilated detention cell housing all 23 of the female detainees,” Caguiat said.
Both the gynecologist and pediatrician looking after Oliveros and her baby also have recommended it is best to suspend jail time for Oliveros due to her condition and for her baby’s health and welfare.
Caguiat said that some religious groups have expressed their willingness to house and take care of Oliveros and her child.
Inhumane
“The continuous detention of the health workers or the Morong 43, is in itself already very tenuous, I don’t know how the courts can legally defend such a violation! And then this dispensation will further aggravate the situation by cruelly separating the baby from his source of nourishment, love and comfort, practically violating the baby’s basic rights,” Karapatan chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez said in a separate statement.
“Baby boy Oliveros is just over a week old and it is most cruel to have him separated from his mother; I completely know this as I delivered my firstborn myself when I was imprisoned during martial law. I and my fellow political prisoners did not allow my baby to be separated from me,” Enriquez said further.
“It is inhumane for the court to order a nursing mother to go back to prison with her newborn child. We could only imagine [Carina's] turmoil as none could be more horrid for a mother than the thought of her child being put in peril,” said Joms Salvador, deputy secretary-general of Gabriela.
Gabriela said Carina’s case is a human rights issue as it is a reproductive health issue. “Her detention in camp together with her newborn son is violative of her rights as a woman and as a human being. It would also seriously imperil the safety and violate the rights of her child,” Salvador added.
Gabriela challenged President Benigno S. Aquino III to “stay true to his promise of justice by immediately intervening in the case of Carina and the rest of the Morong 43.”
“We shall not rest until Aquino sees the necessity of freeing the women and all political prisoners. It is only through restoring their rights as citizens of this country and as human beings could Aquino begin to claim that political repression is not his administration’s policy,” Salvador said. (Bulatlat.com)
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August 2nd, 2010 at 12:21 am
Only the judiciary can release and justify the MORONG 43, and not P-noy. P-noy is the executive but he has no right to intervene the action of the judiciary….P-noy has the right to tell the court to speed up its action on the matter BUT HE NEVER HAS TO RIGHT TO SAY TO THEM RELEASE THE Prisoners….
Some militants claim the law is in their side but alas, they don't even know how really it works….
About the prisoner who gave birth, I would suggest a humane treatment of house arrest until their issue has been resolved….For the benefit and welfare of the child and the mothers and also for humanitarian reasons…
August 7th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
What kind of democracy do you have in the Philippines? A democracy that coddles the interests of the few elite people? I even saw on tv that Filipinos are religious people. Is it a democracy for the high ranking police, high ranking military, rich capitalist businessmen, landlords, and politicians who stay in power because of massive vote buying? Here in Canada, the police have the highest integrity because of truth and justice. Politicians here resign if they cannot do anything good. if a politician here is being investigated for something, that politician will voluntarily step down. Why is it in the Philippines that democracy is still in effect and yet, there is no actual democracy. You have to think now Filipinos, democracy is being used as a ploy for corruption and abuse. Why is it that your economy is very bad? Why is it that good people die? Why is it that the poor are being manipulated and dictated? is it not that politicians are there to lead and make life easier? Think about it. Why are you allowing this to happen to you? if that was here in Canada, god will help us but people will revolt and fight for a real democracy. Thnak you, Rob