2 environmentalists allegedly abducted in Pangasinan

MANILA, Philippines — Two environmentalists and volunteer church workers were reportedly abducted in San Carlos City, Pangasinan Sunday night, according to a rights group.

In a statement, Karapatan-Central Luzon cited reports from witnesses and said that Francisco “Eco” Dangla III and Axielle “Jak” Tiong were “severely mauled, and dragged to a waiting SUV at on or about 8:00 p.m.” on March 24.

It further said that the abduction of the two environmental activists marked the 7th and 8th instances of such attacks against environmentalists “across the central plains of Luzon,” which includes Pangasinan.

“Similar to all other incidences of abductions and enforced disappearance the two were victims of terror-tagging and vilification despite being genuine champions of the environment and the people of Pangasinan,” Karapatan-Central Luzon stressed.

According to the group, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Dangla and Tiong have been “actively raising awareness about the impact of coal-fired power plants and offshore mining.”

Bayan added that the duo’s disappearance “reflects the worsening state of human rights under the government of Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr, which continues to silence criticisms against its anti-people programs and policies.”

The Philippines has, for 10 years, remained as the deadliest country in Asia for environmental defenders.

The day after

In a post on Facebook on Monday, Karapatan-Central Luzon said that the San Carlos City Police Station has recorded Dangla and Tiong’s disappearance.

But the group lamented the police station’s allegedly slow actions on the incident.

“It took the personnel of the San Carlos City Police Station of the PNP [Philippine National Police] an entire day to conduct the process of simple blotter or incident recording even though they have been taking statements from witnesses and relatives of the victim since last night until three o’clock in the morning,” it said.

“Earlier at five o’clock in the afternoon, the police said they would just update the families. They were not even given endorsement to accompany in the retrieval or to obtain a copy of the CCTV footage,” the group added.

Both Dangla and Tiong remain missing as of Monday evening.