The Families of Desaparecidos for Justice (Desaparecidos) today called on the Armed Forces of the Philippines to release the two abducted University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño and peasant Manuel Merino, whom they have detained and kept hidden one year to this day.
The group of families of desaparecidos today called on the Armed Forces of the Philippines to surface the victims of enforced disappearances, instead of fabricating stories of “mass graves” to harass genuine human rights defenders. “From the Marcos Dictatorship, through the past regimes, it is the AFP which had gone unpunished for keeping secret detention …
“We welcome Mr. Philip Alston’s visit with optimism,” said Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Secretary General of the human rights alliance KARAPATAN on the arrival of United Nations Special Rapporteur (SR) on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions. Enriquez says “it is high-time that the UN Special Rapporteur probes the interminable arbitrary executions under the Arroyo government.”
Witnesses and relatives of victims of enforced disappearances today came out to accuse Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of being responsible for the abductions because of her national policy Oplan Bantay Laya. “Mrs. Arroyo, please quit your lies. We don’t have any need of your farcical investigations. YOU, the military and police are 100 % responsible for …
