The release of every political prisoner is always a moment of joy and reconciliation. But not for Reina Mae Nasino who lost her firstborn because of a judicial system that failed her from the very start—from a baseless search warrant by a search warrant factory judge to every court motion that rejected her appeals to allow her to care for a premature newborn to the Supreme Court petition that stonewalled the Kapatid appeal for the release of the medically vulnerable inmates at the start of the pandemic, including then pregnant Reina Mae Nasino.
And let’s not forget the overkill maneuvers of the Philippine National Police and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology that hijacked the corpse of a baby and deprived a first-time mother of a last embrace.
The dismissal of the charges against Nasino does not render as moot the cases filed with the Office of the Ombudsman for the criminal liability of all those involved in her gross maltreatment.
Kapatid asks the Ombudsman to resolve these long pending criminal and administrative complaints that include the liability of those who still hold high office and should be made to answer for their gross misconduct.
We further appeal anew to the Supreme Court to review and conduct a judicial audit of all cases of activists which stemmed from Judge Cecilyn Burgos Villavert as court after court has dismissed her search warrant cases for being flawed and devoid of evidence.
At least 76 activists were arrested due to search warrants for illegal possession of firearms and explosives issued by Judge Villavert. Most of them still languish in jail, including Vicente Ladlad and Alberto and Virginia Villamor who had taken him into their home.
All the victims of the search warrant factory of Judge Villavert must likewise be released as a matter of justice.