News

Former labor center official missing

The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) expresses deep concern over the report that its former information officer James Jazmines, 63, is missing. He was last seen in Barangay San Lorenzo, Tabaco City, Albay on August 23. Jazmines is the brother of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Alan Jazmines.

His relatives said he has not been seen since then. The Jazmines family is working with human rights groups and friends in the search.

“Members of the Jazmines family, including James, have suffered surveillance, threats and harassment over the decades due to the military’s relentless operations to locate Alan and arrest him,” Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general, said.

She further shared that even James’ wife has been the target of these attacks. “James’ wife, a development worker, was red-tagged several times last year,” Palabay added.

Before serving the workers as a KMU propagandist from 1988 to 1992, he was editor of Commitment, the newspaper of the League of Filipino Students, and executive director of the Amado V. Hernandez Resource Center. Since the mid-2000s, he has been a consultant on information technology matters and has worked here.

James graduated from Philippine Science High School in 1978 and studied BS Psychology at the University of the Philippines-Diliman.

The KMU strongly believes the involvement of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, National Task Force-Elcac and other agencies of the Marcos regime in the disappearance of James.

Karapatan said it is possible that this is part of the state’s tactic to force the surrender of his brother Alan, who has been pursued by the state for a long time, or a “palit-ulo” tactic.

The group calls “James must be surfaced safe…and reunited with his family.”

AB: Former labor center official missing