The results of a quick reaction mission on the disappearances of James Jazmines and Felix Salaveria Jr. provided more indicators that State security forces were behind their abduction.
Human rights Karapatan said a team it dispatched to Albay to assist James’ wife in searching for him ended up having to gather facts not just on one but two apparently connected abductions after they interviewed residents who witnessed Felix Salaveria Jr., a cycling buddy of James, being seized near his house at a little past 10 a.m. of August 28, 2024. Salaveria was reportedly shoved into a silver van by men in plain clothes. He has been a resident of Barangay Cobo, Tabaco City, Albay for the past two years.
The witnesses also recounted that a group of uniformed policemen entered Salaveria’s house at around 7 p.m. to cart away Salaveria’s personal belongings, including his cellphone and laptop.
“The policemen were obviously acting on orders,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay. “The fact that they broke into Salaveria’s house after his abduction indicates that they were part of the same State-perpetrated operation.”
Palabay moreover revealed that it was Salaveria who had called Karapatan’s hotline on the morning of August 26 to report James Jazmines’ disappearance after James failed to respond to his calls and texts.
“At first,” said Palabay, “he thought that James may have been too tired to respond after riding his bike home from a dinner Salaveria had hosted at a restaurant on the night of August 23 to celebrate his birthday,” said Palabay. “So he tried to check on James on August 24 but his house was locked.”
Salaveria then thought that James may have met an accident. “But when he failed to find James in any of the nearby hospitals, he began suspecting the worst and decided to get in touch with Karapatan,” said Palabay. “Unfortunately, we lost contact after Salaveria himself was abducted just hours before Karapatan’s Quick Reaction Mission team arrived in Tabaco City on August 28.”
“We join the families of James Jazmines and Felix Salaveria Jr. in demanding that they be surfaced immediately, alive and unhurt,” said Palabay. “With growing indications that their abduction and disappearance is a State-perpetrated operation, we demand that those responsible be held accountable for violating RA 10353 or the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012, which punishes the crime of involuntary disappearance with life imprisonment.”