Reina Mae “Ina” Nasino, a student activist who became a community organizer, was pregnant when she was arrested on fabricated charges on November 5, 2019 with two other activists at their organization’s office in Tondo, Manila. On July 1, 2020, she gave birth to River, her first child, who was separated from her two months later. On October 10, 2020, River died of acute respiratory distress syndrome. The wake and burial of baby River stoked national and international outrage when police forces turned a deaf ear to pleas to remove Ina’s handcuffs even for a few minutes to allow her to embrace her dead child and also hijacked the baby’s coffin away from her shocked family.

This song was written and composed by Mara Peralta, a cultural worker with the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (Union of Agricultural Workers), for Ina. In Filipino, ina also means “mother.”