Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the enforced disappearance of three farmers who are also members of the Anakpawis party list in Guipos, Zamboanga del Sur. The three were abducted along a highway on 3 August 2007 by several men riding on motorcycles. The whereabouts of the victims remain unknown and there has been no effort or investigation by the police to locate them.
CASE DETAILS: (based on information from the Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples Rights (Karapatan))
Victims Antonino Roda (39), Eric Buhain (23) and Julius Sango (21) are members of Anakpawis party list. At around 2:45pm of August 3, the three were traveling in a passenger van on their way to Dinas, Zamboanga del Sur. As the commuter van approached Sitio Kawayan, Barangay (village) Balongating, Guipos, four armed men on motorcycles blocked their way and ordered the driver of the van to stop. The armed men forced Roda, Buhain, Sango and two other female passengers onto another white van in which there were five men. Then the white van sped off in the direction of Dumalinao town.
When the white van reached Dumalinao, the abductors freed the two female passengers. The van then sped off in the direction of Pagadian City. It was only after the female passengers reported the abduction to the authorities that the incident was made known. However, no investigations have been conducted by the authorities in the area to locate the victims so far. Their whereabouts are still unknown.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
This is yet another unsolved disappearance case in the Philippines. On 28 April 2007, Jonas Joseph Burgos, a trainer of a peasant organization, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines) went missing following his forcible abduction in Metro Manila. Two days before that incident, April 26, Alan Bumanglag, a member of a peasant group Kagimungan, was also allegedly abducted by military personnel in Cagayan (UA-156-2007). In another case, Romualdo Balbuena, a resident of Quinapondan, Eastern Samar, was forcibly abducted from his house on 25 February 2007(UA-168-2007). None of the above cases has been solved so far.
This abduction and disappearance of three men is yet another incident where victims are attached to the same political party, Anakpawis, which the security forces has labeled as leftist. Anakpawis is a sectoral party with duly elected representatives before the Philippine House of Representatives. They represent the welfare of the workers, peasants, fisher folk, amongst others.
This is another incident where Anakpawis party members have been targeted for attack. The recent reported case was in April 2007, where Orly Marcella, a Anakpawis sectoral party member, barely survived an attempt on his life (UA-161-2007); Sharon Abangan, a campaign manager for the party, was accused of being a member of a rebel group, and was arrested and detained in Cebu in September 2006 (UA-295-2006).
In the Philippines, families and relative of disappeared victim find it difficult to locate their loved ones. There is no specific law which provides adequate assistance to family members, particularly by the authorities to actively locate the victims. Once a case of enforced disappearances and abductions is reported, what the police usually do is to register the complaints as missing persons. They would then postpone the carrying out of the investigation. The police usually do not fully cooperate and involve the family members in efforts to locate the disappeared victims.
It is also difficult to locate victims, particularly if the police or military men are alleged to have been involved in the case. The police and military are not obliged to allow family members to inspect their camps or speak to their superiors to check whether the persons they are looking for are in their custody. In previous cases, victims who are supposedly abducted and disappeared for days were later found to be in police or military’s custody.
For further information about cases of enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, please refer to The Criminal Justice System in the Philippines is Rotten, article2 vol.6 no.1 Feb 2007.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the following authorities, and urge them to exhaust all means to locate the three disappeared victims in the case. The police should also conduct an immediate and impartial investigation to identify the perpetrators and prosecute them accordingly.
Please also ask the Philippines government to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and enact domestic laws to criminalize enforced disappearance. This will ensure that similar cases are properly investigated and families would have appropriate remedies.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear __________,
PHILIPPINES: Forcible abduction and disappearance of three farmer leaders in Zamboanga del Sur
Name of victim: Antonino D. Roda (39), Eric E. Buhain (23) and Julius Sango (21). They are members of Anakpawis party.
Alleged perpetrators: Four armed men on motorcycles (Two Yamaha DT, a red Honda XRM and a red Honda TMX), and five men onboard a while XLT-type van. All vehicles have no license plate number.
Date of incident: Around 2:45pm on 3 August 2007
Place of incident: Along the highway in Sitio Kawayan, Barangay (village) Balongating, Guipos, Zamboanga del Sur.
I am writing to voice my deep concern about the abduction of three farmers listed above. They are members Anakpawis party list in Zamboanga del Sur. They were allegedly abducted and subsequently disappeared along a highway by several unknown men riding on motorcycles and a van. I am deeply concern that there has not been known credible investigation into this incident in order to locate their whereabouts and identify the perpetrators.
According to the information I received, at around 2:45 pm, the three were traveling on a passenger van on their way to Dinas, Zamboanga del Sur. As the commuter van approached Sitio Kawayan, Barangay (village) Balongating, Guipos, four armed men on motorcycles blocked their way and ordered the driver of the van to stop. The armed men then forced Roda, Buhain, Sango and two other female passengers onto a white van where five men had already been onboard. The white van then sped off to the direction of Dumalinao town.
When the white van reached Dumalinao, the abductors freed the two female passengers. The van then sped to the direction of Pagadian City. The two female passengers later reported the incident to the authorities. However, I have learned that there has not been known investigation so far conducted to identify the perpetrators and to locate the victims. To date, the whereabouts of the victims could not be ascertained.
I am aware that this is yet another unsolved disappearance case in the country. On 28 April 2007, Jonas Joseph Burgos, a trainer of a peasant organization, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines), was forcibly abducted and subsequently disappeared in Metro Manila. His whereabouts remains unknown. On 26 April, Alan Bumanglag, a member of a peasant group Kagimungan, was allegedly abducted by military personnel in Cagayan. In another case, Romualdo Balbuena, a resident of Quinapondan, Eastern Samar, was forcibly abducted from his house on 25 February 2007. As far as I know, none of the victims of these cases have been found or perpetrators identified.
As you are aware, mostly the victims of these enforced disappearances are activists or persons involved in organization the security forces had publicly labeled as leftist. There have been frequent attacks on the party members and leaders of Anakpawis. The recent one was in April 2007 wherein Orly Marcella, an Anakpawis member, barely survived an attempt on his life. In September 2006, Sharon Abangan, a campaign manager for the party, was also arrested and detained in Cebu over allegations she was member of a rebel group.
I therefore urge the concerned authorities to exhaust all means to locate the three missing persons in this case. The police must ensure that an immediate and impartial investigation is conducted to identify the perpetrators and prosecute them accordingly. The family of the victims should also be informed and actively involved in the process of investigation accordingly. This will ensure the credibility of investigation into the case.
I am disappointed that despite of a large number of enforced disappearances in the Philippines, families of the victims are struggling to seek remedies and assistance for their loved ones. I am aware that there is no domestic law criminalizing enforced disappearance and provision of appropriate assistance to the families. Cases of disappearances and abductions are usually registered as missing persons and the police usually do not put much effort to locate the disappeared victims. It is also extremely difficult for families even to seek the help of the police and military, who usually does not cooperate with them, should they locate their loved ones. The enactment of such laws is a requirement to ensure the protection of the victims’ rights and effective prosecution of perpetrators.
Furthermore, I urge you to use your authority to pressure that the Philippine government to ratify without further delay the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. It must also enact domestic laws according to this Convention. This will ensure that subsequent case of enforced disappearance could be properly investigated and adequate assistance to families provided.
Yours sincerely,
—————-
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
President
Republic of the Philippines
Malacanang Palace
JP Laurel Street, San Miguel
Manila 1005
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 736 1010
Tel: +63 2 735 6201 / 564 1451 to 80
2. Ms. Purificacion Quisumbing
Commissioner
Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Bldg., Commonwealth Avenue
U.P. Complex, Diliman
Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Tel: +63 2 928 5655 / 926 6188
Fax: +63 2 929 0102
Email: drpvq@yahoo.com
3. Director General Oscar Calderon
Chief, Philippine National Police (PNP)
Camp General Rafael Crame
Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Tel: +63 2 726 4361/4366/8763
Fax: +63 2724 8763
Email: bluetree73@gmail.com
4. Mr. Raul Gonzalez
Secretary
Department of Justice
DOJ Bldg., Padre Faura
1004 Manila
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 521 1614
5. Mr. Diego Garcia-Sayan
Chairperson
UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
E-mail: urgent-action@ohchr.org
6. Ms. Hina Jilani
Special Representative of the Secretary General for human rights defenders
Attn: Melinda Ching Simon
Room 1-040
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 93 88
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS)
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)
