Today, the 28th of April 2025, Karapatan and Desaparecidos mark the anniversaries of the forcible disappearances of Jonas Burgos, Dexter Capuyan and Gene Roz Jamil “Bazoo” de Jesus with renewed calls that they be surfaced and their abductors held accountable.
Today also marks the commencement of the session of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance in Bangkok, Thailand. KARAPATAN and Desaparecidos, together with families of the disappeared, will have an opportunity to meet the members of the UNWGEID during this period.
Eighteen years ago today, Jonas Burgos was abducted from a restaurant in Quezon City by state forces and has been missing ever since. Two years ago today, Dexter Capuyan and Gene Roz Jamil “Bazoo” de Jesus were seized in Taytay, Rizal by men posing as officers of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG). Their families continue to search for them, yet no one has been held accountable for their disappearances.
The despicable crime of enforced disappearance continues despite the existence for the past 13 years of Republic Act No. 10353, officially known as the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012. Perpetrators have never been deterred by this law which penalizes persons found guilty of enforced disappearance by life imprisonment because they know they can take refuge behind the culture of impunity prevailing in the country.
The latest victim went missing on April 26, 2025. Kadamay organizer and Bayan Muna campaigner Pauline Joy Banjawan had reported that she was being tailed while on a campaign sortie in the third district of Batangas. She was last contacted at 3 p.m. in Sto. Tomas, Batangas. Residents reported the heavy presence of soldiers in full combat gear in Sto. Tomas on the afternoon of April 26. Relatives and paralegals from Karapatan-Southern Tagalog who searched for her were able to talk to a military officer from Camp Macario Sakay in Los Baños, Laguna who refused to give his name and denied having her in custody.
Karapatan and Desaparecidos are alarmed at the fact that enforced disappearances are among the fastest rising human rights violations under the Marcos Jr. regime. Should Pauline Joy not be surfaced in the next few days despite efforts to ascertain her whereabouts, she will become the 20th victim of enforced disappearance under the Marcos Jr. regime.
She follows in the footsteps of Elgene Mungcal and Ma. Elena Pampoza who disappeared on July 3, 2022 in Tarlac, just three days into the new presidency; habal-habal drivers Renel delos Santos and Denald Mialen and their passenger Lyn Grace Martullinas who were abducted in Negros Occidental on April 19, 2023; Dexter and Bazoo who were abducted on April 28, 2023 in Rizal; peasant organizer Deah Lopez who went missing on September 15, 2023 in Negros Occidental; farmers Norman Ortiz and Lee Sudario who were seized by men in military uniform from a village in Nueva Ecija on September 29, 2023; fisherfolk organizer Mariano Jolongbayan who was forcibly disappeaed on November 17, 2023 in Batangas; peasant organizer Mar Silos who disappeared on November 29, 2023 in Quezon; trade unionist William Lariosa, who was abducted in Bukidnon on April 10, 2025; activists Felix Salaveria Jr. and James Jazmines, who disappeared on August 23 and 28, 2024, respectively, in Tabaco, Albay; Bicolano youth Gerald Gestole, who was seized in San Pedro, Laguna on November 17, 2024; charcoal maker Dado Sanchez, who was taken by soldiers on January 14, 2025 in Himamaylan City and never heard from again; peasants Joseph Gonzales and Alfred Hilado, who were arrested by soldiers in Himamaylan City on January 15, 2025 and have not been surfaced; and Lumad leader Genasque Enriquez, who was reported arrested on March 2, 2025 in Agusan del Sur and whose whereabouts remain unknown.
There are at least 192 victims of enforced disappearances in the month of April, since the Marcos dictatorship. Aside from Burgos, Capuyan, de Jesus, Lariosa, delos Santos, Mialen and Martullinas, among those who were abducted and who remained missing are community organizer Roberto Pascual Sr., abducted on April 7, 1988 in Navotas City, and human rights activists Maria Luisa Posa-Dominado and Nilo Arado, abducted on April 12, 2007 in Iloilo.
Karapatan and Desaparecidos condemn the continuing crime of enforced disappearance, and the spate of enforced disappearances under the Marcos Jr. regime. We call for justice and closure for the families of victims and demand that the perpetrators be held to account. This we ask for Jonas, Dexter and Bazoo and all victims of enforced disappearance.