Group alarmed as youth activist remains missing

‘SURFACE ROWENA’ This poster calling on people responsible for Rowena Dasig’s disappearance to surface her has been shared by the League of Filipino Students chapter in the University of the Philippines Los Baños  (LFS-UPLB) through its Facebook page on Aug. 24. —LFS-UPLB Facebook photo

MANILA, Philippines — Human rights watchdog Karapatan has expressed alarm over the disappearance of jailed environment and youth activist Rowena Dasig who has been missing for nearly a week after a trial court reportedly dropped the charges against her.

According to Karapatan, Dasig, 25, who was charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives last year, was supposed to be released on Aug. 22 from the district jail in Lucena City in Quezon province after the Gumaca Regional Trial Court Branch 172 granted her motion for a demurrer to evidence.

READ: Activists back with kin after baring abduction

A demurrer to evidence is sought by respondents in a case if they believe that the evidence presented by the prosecution against them is weak. If granted by the court, the charges will be junked.

Abduction fears

“For reasons unknown, however, the [district jail] refused to release Dasig … despite her lawyers and paralegals’ completion of the requirements,” the group said in a statement on Monday.

When Dasig’s lawyers returned to visit the activist on Aug. 23, they found out from authorities that she was supposedly released to a family member. But the activist’s own family had not seen or heard from her, the group said.

“Her lawyers and paralegals fear that she may have been abducted by the military, who have been stung by the junking of another manufactured case against activists in Southern Tagalog,” Karapatan stressed.

Fearing that Dasig would end up as another victim of abduction, the group pressed authorities to bring the youth advocate back to her family.

“We fervently hope that after hurdling trumped-up charges in court, [Dasig] does not end up joining the growing list of victims of state-sponsored enforced disappearances under the Marcos Jr. regime,” it said.

On July 12 last year, Dasig, along with community health worker Miguela Peniero, was in Atimonan, Quezon, doing research work on the potential health and social impact of a proposed power plant project when they were arrested by members of the 85th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army.

Peniero remains in detention as she is still facing separate charges for violations of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.

Falsified allegations

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders had raised serious concern over the “falsified allegations” of Dasig and Peniero as they involved “arbitrary arrest and detention.”

It also pointed out that their visitors, including their paralegals and relatives, were barred from bringing in medical supplies as Dasig has a skin condition and Peniero has hypothyroidism.

“In this instance, the alleged arbitrary arrest of human rights defenders who are promoting and protecting the rights of others to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is furthermore concerning as it contributes to a chilling effect on civic space in the Philippines, deterring individuals from exercising their rights to freedom of expression and the right to defend the rights of others,” the UN special rapporteur said in its communication to the Philippine government made public in January this year.

According to its latest monitoring released ahead of President Marcos’ third State of the Nation Address last month, Karapatan said the government’s human rights record under Marcos’ watch was marked by “rank hypocrisy and denialism,” as enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings worsened in his second year in office.

It noted the rising cases of extrajudicial killings at 60 cases in 2023, up from 41 the previous year, and enforced disappearances at 11 in 2023 from four in 2022.