Environmental activist missing after supposed release from Lucena jail

Karapatan Southern Tagalog launches a humanitarian mission on Saturday, August 24, 2024 to campaign for the safe return of activist Rowena Dasig whose whereabouts remain unknown after supposed release from jail.  (Photo from Karapatan Southern Tagalog/Facebook)

MANILA, Philippines – Environmental activist Rowena “Owen” Dasig has not been heard of since her supposed release from detention on Wednesday, August 21, according to her lawyers.

Dasig’s legal counsels Tony La Viña and Karlos Zarate from La Viña, Zarate & Associates (LVZ) said her release was blocked by the Lucena City District Jail (LCDJ) on August 21.

“[On] 21 August 2024, despite complying with all the requirements, the warden of the Lucena City District Jail (LCDJ) unjustly and unlawfully refused to release Dasig to her legal team,” LVZ said in a statement on Friday. 

A Quezon court acquitted her last August 13 due to insufficiency in evidence.

She, along with fellow environmental activist Miguela “Ella” Peniero, were arrested by the police and military on July 12, 2023.

While her legal counsel welcomed the court’s decision, they sounded alarm when on her unknown whereabouts.

“On 22 August 2024, when the legal team’s paralegals returned to the LCDJ, they were informed that she had already been released. As of writing, Owen has not been heard from and her whereabouts remain unknown,” LVZ added.

LVZ explained that what LCDJ did “constitutes a refusal to comply with a court order, amounting to contempt of court, and also grave misconduct as they wilflully refused to perform their duty of releasing an acquitted person with no further pending cases.”

According to a statement of Free Owen and Ella Network on Friday, a paralegal from LCDJ said that Dasig was accompanied by her relative upon her release but this was denied by her family.

The family was also unaware that she had already been released.

Her lawyers said that they will cooperate with paralegals from the Free Owen and Ella Network and Karapatan Southern Tagalog.

READ: Cries of police abuse prompt CHR probe into envi activist’s arrest

“We are extending whatever support we can on the ongoing search for Owen carried out by human rights groups. We sincerely hope that she is brought to safety and that her rights are protected,” they said.

Karapatan Southern Tagalog launched a humanitarian mission on Saturday for her to eventually surface.

“Karapatan Southern Tagalog condemns to the highest degree the sabotaging of LCDJ on the supposed release of Owen, for its failure to communicate with her legal counsels and paralegals who are authorized in handling her cases,” said Paul Tagle of Karapatan – Southern Tagalog in a statement on Saturday.

Free Owen and Ella Network said that the arrest of Dasig and Peniero followed after conducting a research on the effects of combined cycle turbine power project and liquefied natural terminal gas plant in Atimonan, Quezon to the farmers of the province.

Meanwhile, Perenio remains detained despite likewise being acquitted like Dasig due to other charges.