When court rulings and search missions yield silence from the government, Mercedita De Jesus would pick up her brushes and pens. Through her art and poetry, she demands that the Philippine government surface her son, indigenous rights activist Gene Roz Jamil “Bazoo” De Jesus. She refuses to let her son’s disappearance be buried in impunity.

De Jesus is a witness of the People’s Tribunal on Art for Resisting Oppression – Philippine Cases in Germany. The event is part of the 13th Berlin Biennale production organized by ALPAS Pilipinas, Gabriela Germany, International Coalition for Human Rights Germany Chapter, and Berlin Philippines Solidarity Organization.

“My art helps me in coping with anxiety and depression brought about by the enforced disappearance of my son and the continuous struggle of our daughter as she represents in the legal proceedings in the Philippines which seek to hold the security forces accountable for the abduction of my son,” she said at the witness stand of the Tribunal.

Bazoo was abducted in the evening of April 28, 2023, together with his fellow indigenous rights activist Dexter Capuyan, in Taytay, Rizal, by individuals claiming to be members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

More than two years later, the Court of Appeals granted the privilege of the writ of amparo to Dexter and Bazoo, and a permanent protection order for their immediate families. In a ruling penned by Associate Justice Jennifer Ong of the 16th Division on August 12, the CA found that state actors had shortcomings in investigating and in observing due diligence.

Read: Families hope court ruling can help find Dexter and Bazoo

De Jesus said that her artworks convey political messages. Her artworks range from portraits of empowered women-survivors of violence up to the sculptures, collages, and poems that portray the struggle and agony of her son’s enforced disappearance. “I draw inspiration from the struggle of our family.”

She said that doing so puts her at increased risk. Her poems posted online often receive mixed reactions: solidarity from fellow advocates and communities and malicious statements from strangers who would attack her for being a migrant worker which would extend to terrorist-tagging of her son.

“My son was a cum laude graduate from the University of the Philippines Baguio. After graduation, he devoted his time serving the youth and the Cordillera people, supporting their fight for life, land, and honor,” De Jesus said. “He was a target of the military for being critical.”

In a previous article of Bulatlat, it was reported that De Jesus’ family engaged in various mobilizations, search missions, and fora to call for accountability resulting from Bazoo’s disappearance. They went to military camps, wrote to government officials, and welcomed the solidarity from international human rights organizations.

Read: Parents carry on strength of their disappeared son  

Endless Bond, a poem written and recited by De Jesus during the Tribunal in Berlin, Germany:

At the People’s Tribunal, art emerged not just as expression but as a form of defiance. De Jesus, together with two other witnesses Father Chris Ablon and Reya Morgado, cast light on how they use art as a weapon against state repression. Their stories revealed the high cost of speaking through art: persecution, relentless red-tagging, and the looming threat of violence.

Once a priest, advocate, and musician in the Philippines, Father Chris Ablon now lives thousands of miles away in forced exile. Hounded by harassment and death threats under the Duterte regime, he sought refuge in Germany where he continues to fight for the rights and welfare of the migrants and the oppressed—proof that exile has not silenced his calling.

For cultural performer Reya Morgado of the Manobo tribe, the stage itself has become a battleground. “Each performance is a political act—a call for freedom, human rights, and justice. I want people to know that I exist. I am living proof of the harassment that continues.”

The Tribunal was judged by Negres Azizi, a legal advisor for the Border Justice program of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and executive director of the Afghanistan Research Hub at Humboldt University Berlin.

She ruled that both the Philippine government and the United States, through their exponential military support to counterinsurgency programs, violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Convention of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, both core treaties that the Philippines ratified.

“Each testimony is a declaration of survival, a living proof that our resistance cannot be silenced,” Azizi said. “This Tribunal, we affirm that arts serve as an instrument of the people. It carries memory, dissent, and hope.” (DAA)