Today, Baby Diona was buried without her mother Andrea Rosal. The Court prohibited Andrea to bury her own child for "security reasons". Yesterday, she was only allowed to visit the wake of Baby Diona at the Cathedral of the Philippine Independent Church for three hours, and “with overkill security escorts”. Observers counted at least 40 escorts from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, mostly armed with high powered rifles.
Today, Baby Diona was buried without her mother Andrea Rosal. The Court prohibited Andrea to bury her own child for "security reasons". Yesterday, she was only allowed to visit the wake of Baby Diona at the Cathedral of the Philippine Independent Church for three hours, and “with overkill security escorts”. Observers counted at least 40 escorts from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, mostly armed with high powered rifles.
“The Aquino government and the AFP have shown more than enough barbarism on the case of Andrea Rosal and her baby. This is not the time to dish out your usual victim blaming and red baiting. These will not work; neither the lies you continue to peddle nor the hypocritical sorrow that you express. The harm has been done, Baby Diona is gone and Andrea Rosal is still in detention. And, we hold you accountable for all of these,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay.
Palabay added, “The least the government can do to render justice to the death of Baby Andrea is to release the falsely charged Andrea Rosal. Otherwise, it better shut up.”
Karapatan reiterates Andrea Rosal’s arrest and detention is illegal. “It is based on false charges and on the testimony of a ‘professional witness’ who goes from court to court peddling lies fed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines to justify detention of suspected ‘enemies of the state’,” she said.
The ‘witness’ against Andrea Rosal is the same Erwin Rosales used by the military against security guard Rolly Panesa. Panesa was illegally arrested, detained and tortured on charges that he was a high-ranking official of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Palabay said the lack of proper medical care and the inhuman condition in jail contributed to the eventual demise of baby Diona. “Contrary to claims by the AFP, Andrea was deprived of proper medical care necessary for a pregnant woman” she said, “despite the doctor’s prescription ‘to undergo laboratory and ultrasound examinations’ and a ‘hospital check-up or even admission’.”
Andrea Rosal shares a 5×10 meter cell with 31 other female detainees. Since her arrest, she has stopped taking her supplements. She was allergic to fish but was not allowed to cook her own food and had to make do with prison food rations, usually just rice and a meagre amount of fish or boiled vegetable. She slept on the floor because the cot assigned to her is on the third deck. Her request for an electric fan of her own was refused by jail authorities citing there is a limit to the number of fans in each cell.
When she was three years old, Andrea was abducted by elements of the AFP with the intent to force the surrender of the late Ka Roger Rosal, spokesperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines. The military later gave in to public pressure and released Andrea. ###