The death of Diona Andrea

The world celebrated Mother’s Day two weeks ago. Beyond the commercial fanfare, it was a special day devoted to women, mothers, sisters and individuals whose nurturing and unyielding love sustains and shapes generations, and helps define humanity. But for the politically detained, Mother’s Day was another day of struggling inside a cramped prison cell, another day of sweltering in intense heat, another day of fighting for justice against false allegations and trumped-up charges. For Andrea Rosal, a political detainee since March 27, it was not only a day that underscored a mother’s fight for freedom; it was also a fight for the right of the child in her womb to proper medical care.

It is well known that since her detention, Andrea was denied regular checkup and the supplements needed for the baby’s proper development. The subhuman condition inside her prison cell was—as it still is—far from conducive to any detainee, more so to a conceiving mother. The request for immediate release or for hospital arrest on humanitarian grounds fell on deaf ears even if previous similar cases had been favored. The circumstances of her premature labor, the delays in the transfer and immediate medical care for delivery, and the undue stress that a mother undergoes under duress foreshadowed the health concerns that later did affect both mother and child.

The death of baby Diona Andrea two days after delivery due to persistent pulmonary hypertension was not only heart-wrenching, it was utterly dismaying and outrageous, for it resulted from the

callous, illicit handling by state authorities of Andrea’s imprisonment and from their desperate attempts to spare themselves of accountability.

Detainees are under the direct care and control of government authorities. And their safety and health conditions are the responsibility of government. This is the reason President Aquino himself escorted Janet Lim Napoles to Cramp Crame after her surrender.

Now, if Baby Andrea’s death is a case of mishandling or intentional denial of medical care, how can the citizens expect the Aquino administration to ensure their welfare?

Such neglect is in clear violation of the Rosals’ human rights and life. Failure of the Aquino administration to fulfill its commitment to the welfare and protection of Filipino children is a grave affront to humanity. The Armed Forces of the Philippines cannot claim innocence or accuse critics of merely engaging in black propaganda when it was clearly remiss in its responsibility. What is all the more alarming is that the state continues to keep political detainees, whose number has swelled to 400 as we write, even as we hear testimonies of inhumane treatment far different from the way the likes of

Gloria Arroyo or Napoles are being  treated.

—IRIS AGUSTIN-CAPUS,

Contak Philippines,

(Church Office for International Networking in the Philippines), [email protected]