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Court grants bail to Baby River’s mother, 2 other detainees

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Mike Navallo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Baby River, 3-month-old daughter of detained activist Reina Mae Nasino, is laid to rest at the Manila North Cemetery on October 16, 2020. A combined force of Police, Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) teams and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology personnel were sent to guard Nasino. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/news/12/13/20201016-baby-river-funeral-gc-42.jpg"/><figcaption>Baby River, 3-month-old daughter of detained activist Reina Mae Nasino, is laid to rest at the Manila North Cemetery on October 16, 2020. A combined force of Police, Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) teams and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology personnel were sent to guard Nasino. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — For over two years, activist Reina Mae Nasino clung to a promise she made when she laid her 3-month-old baby, River, to rest in October 2020.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">WATCH: Reina Mae Nasino’s last message for her daughter River. 📹 Atty Sol Taule | via <a href="https://twitter.com/mikenavallo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mikenavallo</a> <a href="https://t.co/VJHCWYQFh0">pic.twitter.com/VJHCWYQFh0</a></p>— ABS-CBN News Channel (@ANCALERTS) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANCALERTS/status/1316982918997110784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 16, 2020</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>“Lalaya ako nang mas matatag (I will come out stronger),” Nasino told Baby River then, as she wept in front of her casket, amid tight security while in handcuffs and full personal protective equipment (PPE).</p><p>It was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and Nasino, who was arrested 11 months earlier, had to deal with giving birth under detention, and then getting separated from her newborn baby.</p><p>Her lawyers had tried to keep them together but Baby River, only 5.5 pounds at birth, passed on before she could be reunited with her mother.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/10/09/20/detained-mothers-baby-dies-before-given-a-chance-to-reunite">Detained mother&#x27;s baby dies before given a chance to reunite</a></li></ul><p>“Pinagkaitan tayo na magkasama. Di ko man lang nakita ang iyong halakhak (We were deprived of a chance to be together. I did not even get to see you laugh),” Nasino said in between tears, as she caught a glimpse of her daughter for the last time.</p><p>On Monday, Nasino inched closer to fulfilling that promise.</p><div><strong>BAIL GRANTED</strong></div><p>A Manila court granted her and her two other companions’ petition for bail in the illegal possession of firearms and explosives they face.</p><p>“Wherefore, premises considered, for failure of the prosecution to prove that the evidence of guilt against all accused are strong, the Joint Petition for Bail filed by all accused is hereby granted,” Judge Paulino Gallegos of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 47 said in a four-page order.</p><div class="media-content"><div class="slider-for"><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/news/12/13/1.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/news/12/13/2.jpg"/></div></div></div><p>Nasino and fellow-activists Ram Carlo Bautista and Alma Moran were arrested in Tondo, Manila in November 2019 for alleged illegal possession of firearms and a grenade.</p><p>But the Manila court found that the two witnesses the prosecution presented — a barangay or village chairperson and a cop tasked to photograph the operation — “failed to identify the accused and which firearm was recovered from each of them.”</p><p>“The general testimony of witnesses [Chair Jocelyn] Corpuz and [PCpl. Christopher] Jacinto will not suffice to establish that indeed the evidence against the accused were strong,” the court said.</p><p>While Corpuz supposedly accompanied the police operation, she could not identify who the occupant was of the room where a grenade supposedly placed inside a paper bag was found.</p><p>She also could not say what kind of firearm was recovered in the next room where two women were already lying with their faces on the floor, their hands cable-tied, when she entered the premises.</p><p>Jacinto admitted on the witness stand that he took photos only after pieces of evidence had already been recovered.</p><p>“Prosecution witnesses Corpuz and Jacinto failed to show that the circumstances they testified to are such that the inference of guilt naturally drawn therefrom is strong, clear, and convincing,” the court said.</p><p>“The essential elements of the offenses, the surrounding circumstances, the subject of the offenses (corpus delicti), and the identity and participation of each of the accused were not shown to be strong,” it added.</p><p>The court made clear it wasn’t going to delve into the validity of the search warrants, which is pending before the Court of Appeals.</p><p>The appellate court, in September, voided the search warrants used in the operation against the activists due to conflicting addresses, but the case is still pending because the Office of the Solicitor General asked the CA Twelfth Division to reconsider its ruling.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/05/22/ca-voids-search-warrants-vs-baby-rivers-mother-2-others">CA voids search warrants vs Baby River’s mother, 2 others</a></li></ul><p>Progressive and human rights groups have alleged that Nasino’s arrest is part of a government crackdown against persons perceived to be leftist or left-leaning.</p><p>The voided search warrants were issued by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert, the same judge who issued invalidated search warrants against journalist Lady Ann Salem, peace talks staffers and several other trade unionists and activists.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/05/21/court-junks-case-vs-journalist-trade-unionist-calls-search-warrants-fishing-expedition">Court junks case vs journalist, trade unionist; calls search warrants &#x27;fishing expedition&#x27;</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/09/21/bacolod-court-voids-more-search-warrants-issued-by-a-qc-judge">Bacolod court voids more search warrants issued by a QC judge</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/19/21/qc-court-quashes-search-warrants-vs-ndf-peace-talks-staff">QC court quashes search warrants vs NDF peace talks staff</a></li></ul><div><strong>BAIL AMOUNT</strong></div><p>The more pressing concern now for the family is where to get the funds to post bail.</p><p>Nasino and Moran are each required to post a P420,000 bail, while the court set Bautista’s bail at P570,000.</p><p>Their lawyers from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers are considering asking the court to reduce the bail amount set while trying to raise funds publicly for the three activists.</p><p>This could mean however a few more days, if not weeks of being in detention before securing temporary freedom.</p><p>National Union of Peoples&#x27; Lawyers Assistant Secretary-General Atty. Kathy Panguban said Nasino, Bautista, and Moran are pleased about their bail petition being granted but are concerned about the costs.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2377659" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>&quot;I was able to talk to Reina and Alma kagabi over the phone, using yung jail cell phone and I talked to them about this. Masaya sila na na-grant yung petition nila for bail, kaya lang, sabi nga ni Alma, nalulula daw sila doon sa amount na hinihingi,&quot; she said.</p><p>(I was able to talk to Reina and Alma over the jail cell phone lats night.They are happy that the bail petition was granted, but are overwhelmed by its cost.)</p><p>&quot;So, sa tingin namin ano, bagaman nasusunod, bagaman this is in consonance doon sa bail bond, while the court is following the bail bond guide, sa tingin namin medyo malaking amount talaga ito, considering yung kanilang economic status kaya this essentially impairs pa rin their right to bail so we will look into the possibility of having it, of moving for its reduction, &quot; Panguban added.</p><p>(So, we think while this is in consonance with the bail bond guide, we think this is a huge amount, considering the economic status of the three. This still impairs their right to bail, so we will look into the possibility of having it, of moving for its reduction.)</p><p>The lawyer also said they are planning to raise money from the public and other willing donors for the detainees&#x27; bail. </p><p>&quot;Kung tutuusin, right from the start, hindi nga nila ito dapat pinagdadaanan, hindi dapat nila pinoproblema itong bail amount na ‘to because the cases against them are trumped up right from the beginning,&quot; she lamented. </p><p>Human rights group Kapatid also called on the court to reduce the activists bail, calling them &quot;excessive.&quot;</p><p>“The decision of Manila RTC Branch 47 allowing detained activists Reina Mae Nasino, Alma Moran and Ram Carlo Bautista to post bail is bittersweet because it is long overdue but the amount attached to their freedom is excessive that it becomes another injustice,” said the group&#x27;s spokesperson Fides Lim.</p><p>On Twitter, former Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te also said setting of bail &quot;must consider both law and equity.&quot;</p><p>&quot;The bail bond guide (an Executive issuance) must be just that--a guide--but certainly not determinative of the amount of bail to be imposed by the judge who must consider factors outside of the penalty prescribed,&quot; he wrote.</p><p>&quot;Requiring a P50K bail is peanuts to a millionaire but certainly grossly excessive to a daily worker. Bail is both a procedural right (R114) but also a substantive right under the Constitution so there must be considerations outside of the penalty prescribed by law,&quot; Te added.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Granting bail in amounts based on the penalty for the offense and a guide set by the Executive branch diminishes judicial discretion and may result in excessive bail. IMO, bail reform should be initiated by the SC under its Art. VIII, s5 powers.</p>— Ted Te (@TedTe) <a href="https://twitter.com/TedTe/status/1602450565468164096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2022</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div><div><strong>FROM THE ARCHIVE</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rRcmbbn4oeo?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

For over two years, activist Reina Mae Nasino clung to a promise she made when she laid her 3-month-old baby, River, to rest in October 2020.

Court grants bail to Baby River’s mother, 2 other detainees

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Court grants bail to Baby River’s mother, 2 other detainees

Mike Navallo,

ABS-CBN News

Published December 13, 2022 01:58 AM PHT

|

Updated December 13, 2022 11:53 AM PHT

Read More:

Reina Mae Nasino

Baby River

Manila Regional Trial Court

National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers

activist

petition for bail

Judge Paulino Gallegos

Manila RTC Branch 47

Ram Carlo Bautista

Alma Moran

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