CHR investigates disappearance of 2 activists in Rizal

Commission on Human Rights INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Friday said it will look into the disappearance of two activists, who both went missing after meeting in Taytay, Rizal.

The CHR said that activists 27-year-old Gene Roz de Jesus and 56-year-old Dexter Capuyan had been reported missing after they met in a market in Taytay on April 28.

“CHR, through its regional office in IV-A, is conducting an investigation following the petition of one victim’s family member and online allegations that the two are under the custody of state security units,” said the Commission in a statement.

READ: Rights advocates worry about safety of missing activists

The CHR said de Jesus and Capuyan are now classified as “desaparecidos,” or those made to disappear.

“This latest case of ‘desaparecidos’ manifests the continuing vulnerability of activists to involuntary disappearance and its other possible implications, such as illegal detention, torture, and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment,” said the CHR.

READ: Remembering desaparecidos: The unending anxiety of uncertainty

“All cases of desaparecidos necessitate unimpeded action and concrete resolution to reverse the continuing impunity that enable this heinous human rights violation,” it added.

According to the CHR, it has already spoken to several Rizal-based law enforcement units, but they claimed that de Jesus and Capuyan were not in their custody.

The Commission also encouraged witnesses or people with information to cooperate with the CHR or authorities to locate the two activists.

“CHR hopes that law enforcement agencies will maximize and exhaust all efforts in the search for the missing activists,” it said.

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JPV