MANILA – Families of victims of enforced disappearance and human rights groups under the banner of Karapatan and Desaparecidos marched towards the Department of Justice (DOJ) to call for accountability and surfacing of their loved ones, on Aug. 29, a day before the International Day of the Disappeared. 

“We will continue to search and fight for justice for the desaparecidos and the people they serve: from the courts, streets, up to the communities. We will continue the work,” said Castro.

DOJ is the lead agency of the Administrative Order 35, a committee to address grave human rights violations like extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture. However, it was the DOJ who recommended the filing of grave oral defamation charges against environmental activists and abduction survivors Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano—now dismissed in the court.

Alipato at Muog director JL Burgos, brother of disappeared activist Jonas Burgos, says that the fight for justice may be long and tedious but it cannot be denied forever. Their family and the human rights groups have been searching for Jonas for almost two decades.

Alipato at Muog won the Best Picture and Best Director award in the recently concluded 73rd Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) Awards, despite attempts of censorship.

There are 15 victims of enforced disappearance according to Karapatan’s data. There are over 50 victims of short-term enforced disappearance. Despite the enactment of the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Law and the establishment of Administrative Order 35, no one has been convicted of the crime.

Text by Dominic Gutoman

Photos by Helaena Rhyne Pontillas and Jian Zharese Joeis Sanz

 Save as PDF