For the sake of fairness
In the flurry of coverage on Friday — or, indeed, even during the wake on Wednesday — for River Emmanuel Nasino, the three-month-old baby of jailed activist Reina Mae Nasino, scant attention was given to the men and women of the Manila Police District and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology who had valiantly put themselves in harm's way to secure a deceased child and her grieving mother.
That was an oversight on media's part, those three-hour furloughs at a funeral parlor in Pandacan and at the Manila North Cemetery being among the finest hours of the country's uniformed services.
Local Government Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya on Friday stressed that Nasino's relatives and lawyers "placed the lives of jail officers at risk", presumably by protesting loudly at, among other things, the guards trying to bring the activist back to jail much earlier than what the court ordered.
We have to commend them, surely, for bravely keeping the 23-year-old Nasino handcuffed in the face of pleas to let her at least use one hand so she can eat and wipe her tears.
Manila said the guards "were insulted, harassed, and verbally abused by Leftist groups aligned with Nasino", which, to be fair, jail guards probably did not sign up for.
They are, after all, trained to watch over people behind bars and make sure they do not riot or escape.
Luckily, the jail guards were armed and had police backup, or they would have really been in trouble from people loudly asking them "don't you have a child? A family? A sister?"
Authorities took no chances Friday and deployed at least 40 security personnel to the funeral parlor and the cemetery, scoring an early victory in having River's grandmother kneel in front of them for the baby's remains to be brought down and put in the hearse for the funeral procession.
The family had wanted to start the procession at around 11:30 am but the police said the procession should start at 1 p.m., when Nasino's furlough would officially start.
In their magnanimity, the police allowed the procession to start at around noon, and as a credit to their efficiency, brought the body to the cemetery in record time — way ahead of the grieving family, who had to run after the speeding hearse.
It was necessary, the Philippine National Police said, because they were guarding River's remains.
It is unclear what the police were guarding her remains from, maybe from a lightning rally or from placards seeking justice or, worst of all, a final goodbye from a grieving mother facing a lengthy trial and the possibility of a prison sentence.
"It is the subject we are protecting. Those externals have no accountability if things go wrong," The STAR quotes the PNP spokesperson as saying, adding that "the execution on security is appropriate considering crowd control."
So controlled was the crowd, in fact, that it was made up mostly of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology officers and police personnel standing around Nasino as she put a flower on the baby's tomb while still handcuffed and wrapped in a PPE suit.
It is unfortunate that media did not focus on the masterful execution of the security operation and the lengths that our security officers will go to protect us from the existential threat of wondering whether separating a mother from her underweight month-old baby who had nothing to do with her alleged crime is particularly just.
Or from the national security implications of being angry about what happened to them in contrast to how politicians who end up in government custody are treated.
It would have been much better to have commended these brave jail and police officers who, in their great numbers, protect us from ourselves.
* Apologies for not being able to send anything these past weeks. There has been a change in my work schedule and my body is still adapting.
** I had also been working on a story on Sitio Kinse in Taliptip, Bulakan in Bulacan province. The residents there have finally agreed to move out after months of resisting attempts by the government and Some Massive Conglomerate.
We wrote about them in 2019 and every now and then in recent months. It often feels that we are just documenting things for the next generation and, if that is the case, this is one story that I feel deserves that. Their homes will be wiped away by a planned airport project and, if nothing else, I hope that this is something that they can show their children and grandchildren some day.
Here’s the story, in case you’re inclined: Taliptip: A long goodbye where the sea will soon meet the sky
Here, also, is a photo of local police providing us security from, I suppose, sea pirates, while we were conducting our interviews.