By Rosario Brenda Gonzales
The once oldest political prisoner, Rosita Taboy, recently released on bail, had undergone a modified radical mastectomy surgical procedure, as she has breast cancer.
She, along with her late husband, Antonio Legaspi were arbitrarily arrested by elements of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) in a rented house in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan on May 26, 2023.
Legaspi died of a heart attack while in detention.
Taboy is 80 years old herself, afflicted with diabetes and hypertension, and has difficulty in walking.
Development worker Rita Espinoza meanwhile has been imprisoned for more than 8 years on trumped-up charges. Most of these had been dismissed.
A senior citizen, Rita is presently facing trumped-up charges of rebellion and destructive arson in Pagadian City and Molave City, in Zamboanga del Sur.
Both these cases were unknown to her and her lawyer prior to November of this year.
The destructive arson charge supposedly happened in 2020, a time when she was already incarcerated at the Butuan City Jail, Agusan del Norte.
Like Taboy and Espinoza, all other political prisoners are on our minds, especially this holiday season. We wish them freedom and justice. #
