In the last week of August alone, the Marcos regime’s armed forces forcibly disappeared three victims. The crimes took place days before the commemoration of the International Day of the Disappeared on August 30.

Enforced disappearances can be considered crimes against humanity once they become widespread or systematic attacks against the civilian population. Thus, the charges against the perpetrators of the crime are forever valid, and the victims’ family members have the right to dig up the truth of the disappearances and demand indemnification.

One of its latest victims is Rowena Dasig, a detained student activist and environmentalist from Southern Tagalog, whom families cannot locate since August 22. The Lucena City District Jail where she was detained claimed Dasig was “released” on the day criminal charges against her were dropped.

In Albay, James Jazmines, 63, former Kilusang Mayo Uno official and brother of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Alan Jazmines also went missing on August 23. He was last seen in Barangay San Lorenzo, Tabaco City on August 23. From the youth-student sector, he served as KMU information officer and Amado V. Hernandez Resource Center executive director. Since the mid-2000s, he has worked as consultant on information technology matters.

A few days later, 66-year-old Felix Salaveria Jr, an active member of Cycling Advocates (CYCAD), was abducted on August 28. He often cycles with Jazmines. Salaveria served as a founding member of the Tunay na Alyansa ng Bayan Alay sa mga Katutubo and the Kabataan para sa Tribung Pilipino in the 1980s.

Under the Marcos regime, Ang Bayan recorded 153 victims of abduction. Of these, 43 remain missing. Meanwhile, 32 of the abducted were extrajudically killed, 29 were detained, 10 were claimed to have surrendered, 39 surfaced but continue to be subjected to state harassment. Ten of the victims were children used as hostages by the military. Most of the cases occured in the countryside amid intense military combat operations.

Struggle for justice

Relatives of the victims of enforced disappearances continue the fight for justice. On the Day of the Disappeared on August 30, Eco Dangla, a victim of state abduction, went to the Supreme Court to file writ of amparo and habeas data petitions. Dangla was abducted, along with Jak Tiong, in San Carlos City and kept for four days. At the same time, progressive groups staged a protest action at the Supreme Court to call for the surfacing of all the disappeared.

On the same day, youth groups went to Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City to hold the AFP accountable for cases of abduction and enforced disappearance of activists.

In Southern Tagalog, the day was commemorated at the University of the Philippines (UP)-Los Baños. In UP Diliman, the UP Film Center screened the movie Alipato at Muog about the mother and sister’s search for the missing Jonas Burgos. The audience gathered outside the hall after the film to call for justice and the surfacing of all the missing. They also condemned the MTRCB for giving the documentary an X-rating which bans its screening in commercial theaters. Following demand, it was given an R-16 rating in its second review on September 5.

In Cebu, friends and church people offered flowers in memory of Fr. Rudy Romano, a priest of the Redemptorist Church who was abducted and disappeared on July 11, 1985. A day earlier, Karapatan-Central Visayas held a protest to call for justice for Elena Tijamo who was abducted on June 13, 2020, secretly detained and surfaced dead on August 29, 2021. The group condemned the Commission on Human Rights Regional Office 7 for its report from its bogus investigation which concluded that state agents did not violate any human rights in the abduction and hiding of Tijamo.