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PHILIPPINES: Forcible abduction and disappearance of three farmer leaders in Zamboanga del Sur

August 13, 2007

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

14 August 2007
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UA-254-2007: PHILIPPINES: Forcible abduction and disappearance of three farmer leaders in Zamboanga del Sur

PHILIPPINES: abduction; enforced disappearance; violence against activists; inadequate police investigation
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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 People’s 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 appeal, please click:
 
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,


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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)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-254-2007
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.