MANILA (UCAN): The Asian Forum for Development and Human Rights [FORUM-ASIA] called on the government of Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., to halt increasing cases of enforced disappearance of rights defenders and to ensure their immediate and safe return in a statement on September 9.
“Tactics of repression and intimidation are increasingly being used against human rights defenders and dissenting voices,” said the group’s executive director, Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso.
The group said that enforced disappearance, abduction, and arbitrary arrests have increased since Marcos became the president in 2022 with at least 14 individuals missing after being abducted by armed men.
“Such abductions have long been used to instill fear and to silence critics, especially among environmental, human rights and labor rights defenders,” Diez-Bacalso said.
The group also cited various cases of disappearances in the Philippines adding that evidence provided by Filipino rights group, KARAPATAN, a FORUM-ASIA member, suggested the involvement of state security forces.
Such abductions have long been used to instill fear and to silence critics, especially among environmental, human rights and labor rights defenders
Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso
Cirila Estrada, a farmers’ rights advocate and former political prisoner, and her companion, Victor Pelayo, were reported missing in Capiz province on August 29.
The Philippine Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group allegedly arrested them two days later.
Earlier, Estrada had been jailed on trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. Her case was dismissed in 2012, the rights group said. Felix Salaveria Jr., an environmental and indigenous rights advocate, was allegedly abducted on August 28.
The group reported on the disappearance of Rowena Dasig after her release on August 22 after an acquittal in a Philippine court.
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Dasig’s lawyers and paralegals are concerned over the possibility that she may have been abducted by the military allegedly due to their frustration over the acquittal of such fabricated charges, the rights group said.
The Philippines outlawed enforced disappearances with the 2012 Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act. It stipulates that those responsible for enforced disappearances can face life imprisonment.
The Philippine government must take decisive actions to enforce the 2012 Involuntary Disappearance Act by investigating, prosecuting, and punishing perpetrators of enforced disappearances to the full extent of the law.
Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso
The law also requires government security agencies to issue certifications regarding the whereabouts or absence of a missing person.
“The law has miserably failed to prevent disappearances and to ensure the resurfacing of the victims,” Diez-Bacalso pointed out.
She added that the failure of the law exacerbates the Philippines’ “culture of impunity and injustice, where human rights violators are essentially shielded from scrutiny and accountability.”
She emphasized, “The Philippine government must take decisive actions to enforce the 2012 Involuntary Disappearance Act by investigating, prosecuting, and punishing perpetrators of enforced disappearances to the full extent of the law.”
The rights group demanded independent investigations into the alleged involvement of state security forces in the abduction of activists.
It also urged the Philippine government to “implement stronger measures to support and protect human rights defenders, making sure that they [can] carry out their invaluable work without fear of reprisals.”
