KARAPATAN

Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights

#9B K-9 St. West Kamias, Quezon City, PHILIPPINES

telefax# (632) 926-78-77 / 435-28-79

• E-mail: [email protected] / [email protected] • website: www.karapatan.org

 

Press Statement                                                         Reference: Marie Hilao-Enriquez

02 November 2002                                                                       Secretary General

 

 

GMA's regime must be taken to task

for politically-motivated disappearances

 

Remembering our 'disappeared' beloved.

 

Regimes have come and gone. But the wounds are as fresh as the day our loved ones disappeared. To this day, thousands, if not millions, of Filipinos still agonizingly suffer with not knowing what happened to their children, spouses, parents and relatives.

 

We are the families and friends of  the disappeared. We are those whose loved ones are believed to have been abducted, tortured, or even killed by the military in previous and present governments. The victims were mostly activists and critics of the inequities of regimes past and present.

 

It has become common lore to attribute disappearances to the dreaded Marcos dictatorship. But truth is, subsequent regimes--from that of Cory Aquino to the present--have long overshadowed Marcos's propensity to abduct critics and dissidents. While at least 769 individuals disappeared during the 20-year Marcos rule, at least 810 individuals disappeared during Aquino's 6-year term. Fidel Ramos's regime victimized at least 46 individuals, while Joseph Estrada's regime victimized 38.

 

President Macapagal-Arroyo's administration, only coming into her second year in office, has already caused the disappearances of 14 individuals, many of them political critics and militant community leaders opposed to Arroyo's anti-people policies. The most recent of such disappearances was the abduction of 18-year old Rosa Guadiana last August 22. Rosa, a daughter of a National Democratic Front (NDF) consultant, was taken by military elements and to this day remains at large, much to the concern and suffering of her parents and loved ones.

 

Nevertheless, to this day, the desaparecidos remain faceless and nameless in the eyes of the government, their identities as deeply hidden as their fates. Memories of the politically-motivated disappearances have been blurred by persistent government denial of their plight.

 

The government has time and again shown a lack of moral courage in excorsing its past and present demons. From the iron-fisted Marcos dictatorship to President Macapagal-Arroyo's era of "strong republic", the authorities have demonstrated their unwillingness to take immediate steps in thoroughly investigating the disappearances.

 

Such travesty of justice and utter disregard for human rights must not be tolerated by the Filipino people. We must urge our national leaders to summon up whatever humanity is left of them and help the victimized families identify and bring to trial those responsible for the disappearances of their loved ones. We plead to our government to allowing the families to know the truth, for them to heal their wounds.

 

The disappearances, all acts of terrorism perpatrated by the government, must immediately be put to a stop.