Wearing a PPE and hands cuffed, Reina Mae Nasino bid her baby River one final goodbye at Manila North Cemetery Friday.
With relatives and supporters, Nasino mourned the death of her daughter to pneumonia. Instead of leaning on her mother or other relatives in her moment of anguish, Nasino was surrounded by jail guards, some in digital camouflage clutching long rifles and keeping a close watch on the proceedings.
Nasino’s time with her baby was troubled from the start.
Born pre-mature in July, River was separated from her mother mid-August as Nasino stayed in City Jail while awaiting trial for illegal possession of firearms and explosives. She and two others were arrested in November 2019. They said the charges were trumped up, alleging police planted evidence.
Reports said some 40 guards were present when Nasino attended River’s wake on Wednesday. This after the Manila City Jail raised concerns that it lacked personnel to guard Nasino during the wake causing her furlough to be shortened from 3 days to 3 hours per two days.
On Friday, a contingent of SWAT, police, jail guards and firemen were once again present.
As a person deprived of liberty, Nasino was guarded by several BJMP personnel, some of whom were wearing body armor and toting high calibre firearms. The subject they needed to keep a close watch on? A sobbing mother who stood no taller than 5-foot-2 attending her child’s funeral on furlough.
The security details was so heightened that initial rules for the entry of supporters were revised, preventing some from going inside the funeral home. A mass for River supposed to be held inside the building was done outside instead where police kept watch.
Reports also said that the hearse carrying River’s remains sped up during the procession leaving grieving relatives behind.
The treatment toward Nasino at River’s wake to her funeral has caused widespread anger, with some complaining of selective justice and comparing her treatment to higher profile and wealthier prisoners allowed temporary release on humanitarian grounds.