Panay Alliance Karapatan reported the abduction of Cirila Estrada, a peasant’s rights advocate and former political prisoner, and her companion on August 29 at 7 am in the town of Pan-ay, Capiz. Their whereabouts have not been known to date.

Estrada was arrested and jailed by the state in 2010 and spent two years in jail. The case against her was dismissed in April 2012.

The group said the two were abducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG). They raised grave concern for the safety of the missing as serious human rights violations have been recorded in the recent AFP and PNP-CIDG operations in the region.

“These include cases of planting [fake] evidence to justify extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests,” the group said.

“We insist that the police and military surface the detainees to ensure their legal rights,” the group added.

In the records of Ang Bayan, there are at least 173 cases of human rights violations in Panay under the Marcos regime.