ILOILO City – A few hours before Brigadier General Rolando Miranda took his oath as the new director of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) in Camp Delgado here yesterday afternoon, he was slapped with criminal and administrative charges in Manila.
The complainant, jailed activist Reina Mae Nasino, alleged that the Manila Police District (MPD), which Miranda previously headed, violated her rights, especially during the wake and funeral of her three-month-old baby River in October.
At the Office of the Ombudsman, Nasino charged Miranda and other MPD officials with the following:
* violation of Republic Act (RA) 9745 or the Anti-Torture Act
* violation of RA 10028 or the Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act
* grave coercion
* maltreatment of prisoner
The administrative charges, on the other hand, were the following:
* grave misconduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service
* oppression
* grave abuse of authority
Miranda could not be reached for comment as of press time.
He did not address this development in Manila yesterday during the turnover ceremony in Camp Delgado. His inaugural speech focused on his thrusts for Western Visayas: illegal drugs, illegal gambling, corruption, internal cleansing, crimes, and terrorism.
“We will closely work with (the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) and (National Bureau of Investigation) and other law enforcement agencies in our pursuit to end the problems brought about by illegal drugs,” said Miranda.
For its part, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) said yesterday it “acted within the bounds of the law and the rules and regulations of the agency.”
The Manila Police District then under Miranda and the BJMP came under fire for the tight security imposed during the funeral of Nasino’s baby daughter River on Oct. 16.
Wearing personal protective gear due to the coronavirus disease pandemic and hands bound by handcuffs, the 23-year-old activist was surrounded by jail officers and policemen. Critics described it as an overkill.
A month after she was born in July, Baby River was separated from her mother. Nasino pleaded to be with her baby for at least a year but a local court denied her petition.
Due to acute respiratory disease, River died on Oct. 9.
On the day of the funeral, Nasino’s family appealed to the authorities to show some compassion by removing her handcuffs if only to hold her child’s coffin. Her security escorts refused, forcing Nasino to exert all the effort her body can muster to touch the small casket while bound by the handcuffs.
When her three-hour funeral furlough was up, Nasino was brought back to the Manila City Jail.
In an earlier court-sanctioned furlough on Oct. 14 allowing Nasino to visit her baby’s wake, commotion ensued when dozens of jail escorts tried to prevent the activist from interacting with the media, whisking her away.
Nasino was arrested in the office of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan on Nov. 5, 2019 for possession of guns and explosives. She, however, claimed the evidence against her was “planted”./PN