“I appeal for your help. I believe you can do something for my release… I wish you consider my plea,” said Andrea Rosal in a letter to Pope Francis.
Andrea Rosal is among the many political prisoners who asked Pope Francis to intercede for their release. Rosal said, “I am the daughter of the late Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal, former spokesperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines. I am detained at the Taguig City Jail because of trumped-up charges. The government considers my parents its enemies. By affiliation, the government arrested and jailed me despite my pregnancy.”
“I appeal for your help. I believe you can do something for my release… I wish you consider my plea,” said Andrea Rosal in a letter to Pope Francis.
Andrea Rosal is among the many political prisoners who asked Pope Francis to intercede for their release. Rosal said, “I am the daughter of the late Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal, former spokesperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines. I am detained at the Taguig City Jail because of trumped-up charges. The government considers my parents its enemies. By affiliation, the government arrested and jailed me despite my pregnancy.”
Rosal was arrested in March 2014 with Edward Lazanas who accompanied her to the hospital for a check-up. Rosal was seven months pregnant at the time of her arrest. In May, Rosal gave birth to a baby girl whom she lost two days after.
“My innocent child bore the effects of the trumped-up charges against me. My detention is unjust. I am not guilty of the charges against me even as I continue to suffer the loss of my child,” said Rosal.
The court did not grant Rosal’s motion to attend the burial of her daughter Diona. Instead, she was given three hours to go to her daughter’s wake, the Court invoking “compassionate justice”.
“This is where the irony lies,” said Jigs Clamor, national coordinator of SELDA. “While criminals, plunderers and human rights violators who are in jail continue to enjoy the life they had outside detention, the political prisoners suffer under inhuman jail conditions.”
Clamor said the political prisoners are victims of false criminal charges they are unjustly subjected to because of their political beliefs or their affiliations.
In July, the Pasig Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 266 dismissed the trumped up murder charges against Rosal, saying no evidence linking her to case. Similar false charges still remain at the Mauban, Quezon court. ###