DAVAO CITY – A political prisoner who is also a mother of a seven-month old baby wished she would be freed during her birthday on Sunday.
Maria Miradel Torres, 27 years old and baby Karl, is staying at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig. Human rights group Hustisya (Pagkakaisa ng mga Biktima para sa Hustisya) said Torres was arbitrarily arrested on June 20, 2014 based on a faulty arrest warrant, and trumped up charges of murder and frustrated murder.
“She was four months pregnant then, and just came from the hospital due to bleeding. Instead of being granted hospital arrest, she was brought straight to jail where she waited for her full-term pregnancy before jail guards brought her to the Philippine General Hospital,” said Hustisya secretary-general Ma. Cristina Guevarra.
“We share Miradel’s wish on her birthday. There is no other gift we can give her but to push for her immediate release,” she said.
Guevarra said Torres’ cases against “were clearly of no basis.” “Keeping her in jail violates her right to take care of her child, and the latter’s right to live and experience a life with a mother,” said Guevarra.
The court recently denied the motion to quash the charges against Torres, which the lawyers filed because of major inconsistencies. A motion for reconsideration was subsequently filed, which lawyers and human rights groups are now hoping to be granted so that Torres and her baby can go home.
