MISSING IN ORION | The human rights group Karapatan releases on Monday, Sept. 4, 2023, a poster seeking help to find activists Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro who were involved in environmental campaigns before they were reportedly abducted in Orion, Bataan, on Sept. 2, 2023 (Photo from Karapatan- Central Luzon)
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines — Save for a pair of slippers and a piece of sandal, there were no traces of the two young women abducted by armed men in Orion town in Bataan province on the night of Sept. 2, a human rights group said.
The fact-finding mission of friends and colleagues of Jhed Tamano, 22, and Jonila Castro, 21, yielded no other leads as of Monday, according to Amador Cadano, spokesperson for the human rights watchdog Karapatan in the Central Luzon region.
In a post on social media, Karapatan sought online help for any information that could lead to the whereabouts of the two following the reported abduction.
According to Karapatan, Tamano works as a coordinator in the “Turn the Tide Now” program of the church group Ecumenical Bishop Forum-Central Luzon while Castro serves as a community volunteer for Akap Ka Manila Bay, a network of various sectors opposing the reclamation projects on Manila Bay.
Both environmental workers studied at Bulacan State University (BulSU) in the City of Malolos in Bulacan and were former members of the Student Alliance for the Advancement of Nationalism and Democracy BulSU, an activist group at the university.
Castro was an undergraduate psychology student in 2019 while Tamano was a business economics graduate in 2022.
Citing accounts of eyewitnesses, Karapatan said armed men were seen forcing Tamano and Castro inside a gray Toyota Innova in front of the Orion Water District in Barangay Lati at 8 p.m. on Sept. 2.
Tailed
“Before they went missing, the two reported being tailed by men wearing civilian clothes. The two stayed in Sitio Ormoc in Barangay Balut (also in Orion) for at least three days, consulting the community for a possible relief operation,” Cadano said.
They were sent to Orion by Akap Ka to consult with communities that were affected by the new coastal road and reclamation project planned for the expansion of the free port of Bataan, according to Cadano.
The ongoing dredging work in Barangay Capunitan had so far displaced some 200 families in need of help, he added.
The two women were set to leave Orion on the night of Sept. 2 for another consultation in another town but they stopped replying to text messages from friends around 7 p.m., Cadano said.
Karapatan-Central Luzon held state forces, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and the Marcos administration “accountable for the enforced disappearance of Jhed and Jonila and all others who disappeared in the region and in the nation.” Cadano did not say the basis of the group’s suspicion.
He said the incident involving Tamano and Castro was the second case of enforced disappearances in the region after those of peasant organizers Elena Pampoza and Elgene Mungcal, also known as the Moncada 2, who went missing in July 2022.