Kin of missing Cordillera activist seek Aquino help

BAGUIO CITY—Relatives and friends of missing activist James Balao gathered at the post office here on Thursday and sent 1,000 postcards to President Benigno Aquino III to seek his help in locating the desaparecidos (disappeared).

Balao, a founding member of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), was abducted by armed men on Sept. 17, 2008, in La Trinidad, Benguet, and has not been seen since.

“This is to pressure President Aquino to act on the cases of enforced disappearances and all kinds of human rights violations. We want the President to know that we did not forget James,” said Jude Baggo, secretary general of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance.

Baggo said the military’s counterinsurgency programs were the root of human rights violations against political activists, many of whom had been tagged as members or supporters of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

The postcards sent to Mr. Aquino carry a photograph of Balao and the messages “It is 1,000 days since James was abducted” and “Surface James Balao.”

Details of Balao’s abduction are provided, and his disappearance attributed to policemen and members of the military’s intelligence group.

‘End this agony’

Through the postcards, Balao’s family asked for the President’s help in finding him.

“It is within your authority to end this agony. As commander in chief, you have the mandate to give orders for the immediate surfacing of James, to hold [an] investigation and prosecute his abductors. As [for] the other desaparecidos, they too should be surfaced and reunited with their families and the people they serve,” the family’s message read.

Joni Balao-Struggar, Balao’s sister, said the family was hoping the Supreme Court would grant its petition for the issuance of a writ of amparo so the military would be compelled to produce her brother and allow them to search for him in military camps and detention centers nationwide.

“It would mean a lot to us if President Aquino receives and reads even just one postcard. My family has not lost hope in finding James. The cards will remind the President that there are relatives and friends who continue to search for him. We are not giving up,” Struggar said.

1,000 days missing

Beverly Longid, chair of the party-list group Katribu, said 1,000 postcards were sent to Mr. Aquino because she and her colleagues marked the 1,000th day of Balao’s disappearance on June 12.

Longid said Balao was abducted because of his association with the CPA, which was among the leftist groups named by the military as supposed fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the NPA.