Progressive groups and human rights defenders protested in Cebu City on January 10 to reitereate their demand for justice and the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) accountability in abducting activists Dyan Gumanao and Armand Dayoha. They held the rally in front of the AFP Visayas Command headquarters.

Dayoha and Gumanao joined the rally at the military camp. They expressed deep frustration over the dead-end investigations of the Commission on Human Rights, even after it identified the AFP units’ direct involvement in the abduction.

Dayoha denounced the Cebu Provincial Task Force-Elcac’s creation in December 2025 as ordered by Gov. Pam Baricuatro. He said it would only intensify the state forces’ long-standing practice of Red-tagging, harassment, and attacks against activists.

Abduction amid many witnesses

State forces abducted Gumanao and Dayoha at the Cebu Port on January 10, 2023, and held them incommunicado for five days. Gumanao was the regional Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) coordinator in Region 7, while Dayoha was an Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) Cebu local chapter volunteer. Both are graduates of the University of the Philippines (UP)-Cebu.

Videos of the abduction showed the two activists being seized and forcibly shoved into a vehicle in full view of many people. They were loaded into a gray SUV parked in the port’s area where private vehicles were prohibited.

The two were found and reunited with their families on January 16, 2023. Gumanao’s father said his daughter called on January 15, 2023, asking to be fetched in Carmen, Cebu, where their captors had abandoned them.

Gumanao and Dayoha said they were blindfolded, separated into different rooms, and subjected to interrogation and torture by state agents.

Months after the incident, the CHR investigation itself confirmed the involvement of Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) units in the abduction. No one has been held accountable for the crime to date.

Independent investigation

Karapatan–Central Visayas reiterated its call for an independent investigation into the abduction of Dayoha and Gumanao, and other cases of abduction and enforced disappearance nationwide. The group said Dyan and Armand are no longer just victims but symbols of resistance against state repression.

At least 19 desaparecidos or victims of enforced disappearance were recorded under the US-Marcos regime. Ang Bayan reported that state forces have abducted nearly 300 people, some of whom were later surfaced dead, imprisoned on fabricated criminal charges, or falsely presented as “surrendered former rebels.”