Dear colleagues,
We are sharing the statements issued by the loved ones of missing James Jazmines and Felix Salaveria, Jr. today, September 3, 2024, in an online press briefing.
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk
Statement of Cora Jazmines, wife of missing James Jazmines
James Jazmines, 63, is NDFP consultant Alan Jazmines’ youngest brother. He has been reported missing since August 23, 2024 and was last seen in Barangay San Lazaro, Tabaco City, Albay. As of today, efforts by me, friends and human rights groups to ascertain his whereabouts have been in vain.
James is a 1978 graduate of the Philippine Science High School and took up BS Psychology at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. He was the editor of Commitment, the official paper of the League of Filipino Students (LFS). He helped set up the Amado V. Hernandez Resource Center, Inc. (AVHRC) in 1984 and became its first executive director until 1988. AVHRC is a cultural institution that promotes nationalist, pro-people and scientific culture especially among the basic sectors. It sponsored the “Gawad Ka Amado”, an annual literary contest that aimed to support the development and promotion of literature for, by and of the basic sectors. Gawad Ka Amado helped then-budding writers hone their literary skills. Many of them are now cultural and literary figures who are well placed in the academe.
From 1988 to 1992, James served as the information officer of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) labor center. He assisted in publishing BAGWIS, a newspaper dedicated to informing workers about national issues affecting them and their right to organize unions and providing them an avenue for airing their grievances.
He was the information technology (IT) consultant of a development NGO up to the mid-2000s, and has been working freelance in the IT sector since then. He assisted many NGOs in upgrading their technical knowhow when research and information work were undergoing digitalization.
As a student activist in the early 1980s, James already experienced harassment thru the issuance of Arrest Search and Seizure Orders (ASSO) for him and other political dissidents. This forced him to take a leave from his studies. Their family has not been spared from other forms of harassment for decades when his brother Alan was being hunted by the military, and especially in the years that Alan was involved in the peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Duterte government.
We are very much worried because James is hypertensive and suffers from chronic leg pain due to nerve impingement in his spine. We call on the country’s duty bearers to help us locate James and bring him back to us safely.
Statement of Gab Ferrer, daughter of missing Felix Salaveria, Jr.
My sister and I, on behalf of our family, appeal to whoever is responsible for the abduction and detention of our father, Felix Salaveria, Jr., to surface him without delay.
On the morning of August 28, 2024, our father was reportedly abducted from his home in Barangay Cobo, Tabaco City, Albay. We have not heard from him since. We appeal to the public to help us pressure authorities to surface our father. We do not want our father to be just a statistic. It is important that you know him as a human being and a cherished person in his community.
Our father is loved and respected in the community because of his kindness and generosity. He is known for helping those in need. He has been working on a community garden to benefit his neighborhood.
Our father Felix Salaveria graduated from San Beda High School, batch of 1976, and was a Sociology major at the University of the East in Manila.
He is a founding member of Cycling Advocates or CYCAD. His organization promotes bicycling as a low-cost, healthy, and environmentally sustainable form of transportation. He is a true believer in the benefits of bicycling and has taken us, his daughters, biking for as long as we can remember.
In addition to bicycling, our father is also an advocate of eco-waste management. Since he moved to Tabaco, he has been encouraging proper waste management and coordinating the transport of biodegradable waste for conversion to compost. He even donated to his community a bicycle specially modified to collect waste for composting.
As each day passes with no news from him, our anxiety increases especially because of our father’s age and medical condition. He is frail and suffered a stroke in 2023 and was paralyzed on the left side. He is still recovering.
We appeal on humanitarian grounds to the authorities who are detaining him to surface our father, Felix Salaveria, immediately, along with the others who have also disappeared. Our families need to know that they are safe and healthy, and we want to ensure that their constitutional rights are protected.