August 30 is marked worldwide as International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance. In the Philippines, where enforced disappearance has become a fast-growing phenomenon under the Marcos Jr. regime, environmental activist and abduction victim Francisco “Eco” Dangla has chosen this day to seek protection from the courts through petitions for the writs of amparo and habeas data.
Eco Dangla and fellow activist Joxelle “Jak” Tiong were abducted in San Carlos, Pangasinan on March 24, 2024. For three days, they were held incommunicado, physically and psychologically tortured before being surfaced bruised and traumatized on March 27. With their abductors claiming to be from a group with close links to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, their lives, liberty and security are under continuing threat despite their surfacing.
Paralleling Eco and Jak’s ordeal, activists Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano were likewise seized by soldiers in Orion, Bataan on September 2, 2023, held for 17 days in safehouses and military camps where they suffered physical and mental torture and were pressured to denounce their organizations and advocacies and present themselves as “surrenderees.” They courageously went off-script at an NTF-ELCAC-organized press conference and used the opportunity to tell the truth about their abduction.
But other abduction victims have not been so lucky. Since Ferdinand Marcos Jr. came to power, 14 persons have been abducted and remain missing to date. The latest victims are trade union organizer William Lariosa, who was arrested during a military operation in Quezon, Bukidnon on April 10, 2024; former political prisoner Rowena Dasig, who disappeared right outside the Lucena City District Jail after her release on August 21, 2024; and James Jazmines, brother of NDFP consultant Alan Jazmines, who was last seen in Tabaco City, Albay on the night of August 23, 2024.
Enforced disappearance has long been employed by tyrannical regimes as a strategy to spread terror within a society. The families, support systems and communities of the victims often experience harassment and other hardships in the course of their search for their loved ones. The families, in particular, suffer from the mental anguish of not knowing whether their loved ones are still alive and, if so, where they are being held and under what conditions.
Impunity for State actors and other entities implicated in enforced disappearances persists, and victims are often not able to seek protection from the law. A habeas corpus petition filed by William Lariosa’s wife has been denied by the court. Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano’s bid for a protective writ has not only been denied; they themselves are now subjects of retaliatory charges filed by their abductors.
And who can forget the case of activist Jonas Burgos who was seized in April 2007 by soldiers, but whose abductors remain beyond the pale of the country’s justice system. Marcos Jr.’s censorship body has even slapped an X-rating on an award-winning documentary film (“Alipato at Muog”) on the abduction directed by Jonas’ brother JL Burgos, in an effort to prevent the film from being screened in commercial theaters nationwide.
With State collusion, not even the enactment in 2012 of Republic Act No. 10353 or the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Law which punishes the crime of enforced disappearance with life imprisonment, has managed to pierce the thick veil of impunity shielding the perpetrators. In another sign of intransigence, the Philippine government also refuses to sign and ratify the United Nations International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
KARAPATAN demands an end to the brutal and dehumanizing crime of enforced disappearance. It is in firm solidarity with the families of victims of the forcibly disappeared in their continuing quest for justice and closure and will be with them every step of the way in their demand for accountability from the perpetrators.