Group mourns death of another 'political prisoner'
A 44-year-old political prisoner in Sorsogon died from illness in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, a group of families and supporters of political prisoners said on Monday.
Rodrigo Lazar, a farmer, died of complications due to hypertension and diabetes at the Sorsogon Provincial Hospital last September 9.
Kapatid mourned the death of Lazar, the second political prisoner who died during the pandemic. There are currently 635 detained political prisoners in the country.
“Lazar is a prime example of the broken justice system. Despite his illnesses, he spent six years in jail for simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time, when a military operation rounded up people in their area,” Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim said.
The group lamented how Lazar, along with other detained political prisoners, struggled to survive inside jails since the onset of COVID-19 outbreak.
Before Lazar, 61-year-old community organizer Adelaida Macusang succumbed to cardiac arrest and kidney failure while detained in Compostela jail last May 4.
Families of political prisoners are frustrated with the Supreme Court decision remanding their petition for the humanitarian release of vulnerable inmates to lower courts.
The high court said that it treated the petition as an application for bail and recognizance and therefore ordered the trial courts to conduct necessary proceedings for the possible release of prisoners.
“Had the Supreme Court acted with exigency, the deaths of sick prisoners like him could have been prevented,” said Lim, whose husband-peace consultant is one of the 22 petitioners in the case.
Lim said that justice should be rendered to everyone and not just for the benefit of some people.
“The death of Lazar and of all other prisoners during this pandemic show how Filipinos struggle just to be able to survive while foreign convicts like US Marine L/Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton relished special privileges and walk away scot-free,” she said.
“There is clear injustice when a foreigner convicted for the brutal killing of a Filipino walks free because of the President’s misplaced compassion while a lot of Filipino prisoners, including Lazar, struggle from state neglect inside highly congested prisons,” she added.