Unable to attend her dead two-day old daughter’s funeral, political prisoner Andrea Rosal was given only three hours to attend to baby Diona Andrea’s wake at the Iglesia Filipina Independiente church in Taft Avenue, Manila.

“It is not enough,” said a grieving Rosal. The court cited security reasons as well as Rosal’s own medical condition as basis for denying her petition to attend baby Diona Andrea’s burial.

“They are heartless. I just want to have time with my baby for the last time, even in her wake. But they ignored my plea,” added Rosal, who is the daughter of the late spokesperson of the Communist Part of the Philippines, Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal and accused by the military as a rebel leader in Southern Tagalog.

Diona Andrea died due to hypoxemia or oxygen deficiency in the blood, two days after Rosal gave birth to the baby. Rosal was granted hospital arrest only days before giving birth.

Prior to this she said she was incarcerated in a 5-by-10-meter cell shared with 31 other inmates since her arrest in Caloocan City on March 27.

Poor condition

According to Rosal, the poor condition in her jail caused the untimely death of her child. She was forced to sleep in the pavement because the bed given to her was in the third deck and broken.

“I did not have a choice but to sleep in the pavement. It was hard for me, a pregnant woman, to sleep in a bed that is broken,” Rosal said.

Rosal blamed the government for the death of child and her being illegally detained. “My only sin is that I am the daughter of Ka Roger, and my child as a Rosal, too,” she said. Peasant group Pagkakaisa at Ugnayan ng mga Magsasaka sa Laguna (Pumalag) said Rosal is a member of their organization at the time of her arrest.

Women’s organization Gabriela, meanwhile, said that due to the tragic incident, Rosal might be suffer from post-partum or post-natal depression. Prolonging her detention will worsen this condition.

“Birthing is a life-threatening process. Even for normal deliveries, many women suffer from depression. In the case of Andrea Rosal, who is in detention during pregnancy and the tragic death of her child, she might suffer deep depression,” said Obeth Montes, Gabriela’s psychologist.

Montes said that it is highly possible that Rosal is in trauma. “Imagine the agony of a mother who lost her child and being detained, and cannot bury her child. It is a mental torture,” she said.

“If the court was really compassionate, it would have been concerned first and foremost about Andrea’s well-being. Her inability to properly mourn for her dead child will definitely be a major factor to consider,” said Joms Salvador, Gabriela secretary-general .

According to Karapatan, during a medical check-up after her interrogation, Rosal had also complained of stomach cramps. But this was allegedly ignored by the attending nurse. She was brought back to the National Bureau of Investigation for interrogation after her complaint.

Gabriela stressed that Rosal should be freed as she is innocent and to start the process of healing from any depression that comes with the tragic incident. “Detention cell is not conducive for a grieving mother,” Montes said.

Injustice

Karapatan said that it is not the first time that Rosal suffered persecution in the hands of state security agents.

In 1989, Rosal, then five years old, was abducted by the military together with her grandmother and detained in Camp Nakar in Lucena. Her father, the CPP spokesperson Ka Roger, said the military abducted Rosal to lure him out of the hinterlands and arrest or kill him.

This was confirmed by her auntie Felicidad Rosal Indanan. “She was abducted by the military to force her father to surrender,” she said. Indanan added that the military was compelled to release Andrea and her grandmother due to strong protests.

Rosal’s March 27 arrest was based on what Karapatan said was an “invalid warrant based trumped-up charges of murder, and kidnapping with murder”. Her companion at the time, Edward Lanzanas, was arrested without warrant and is still under detention without any valid charges, according to Karapatan.

Rosal is being implicated in a kidnapping and murder case by a certain Erwin Rosales, alleged former New People’s Army (NPA) member who claimed to have witnessed the incident, and Marissa Eclavea, widow of one of the alleged victims.

“In his statement, Rosales merely described and identified the individuals who allegedly ordered and those who carried out the abduction/killing. He never mentioned Rosal among those he described and identified. This indicates that Rosal was falsely implicated in the said criminal cases, thus her arrest and continued detention is illegal,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general.

“Such a fate this mother had to suffer all because of an invented story concocted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Aquino government. Andrea was made to endure poor prison conditions, inadequate medical prenatal assistance, the loss of her one and only child,” Palabay said.

Palabay added that Rosal’s case illustrates the worsening judicial system and lack of maternal health care of prisoners.

Palabay added that Rosales is the same military witness who tried to implicate Rolly Panesa, a security guard. Panesa was falsely identified by the military as “Benjamin Mendoza”, an alleged high ranking CPP member. Panesa was released by virtue of a Writ of Habeas Corpus issued by the Court of Appeals, which said that he is not Benjamin Mendoza.

Photos of baby Diona Andrea’s wake attended by Andrea Rosal at the IFI Church in Taft Avenue, Manila on Wednesday, May 21: