Najir Gumuntul Ahung, 38; Rasdie Bisita Kasaran, 21; and Yusup Cadlus Mohammad, 21. Screengrab from https://www.find.org.ph
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines–As the world observed International Day of the Disappeared on Thursday, the families of three men from the town of Al Barka in Basilan continued to wonder how the trio could have disappeared from such a well-secured place as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s Terminal 3 seven months ago.
Nothing has been heard from Najir Gumuntul, 38, Rasdie Kasaran, 22, Yusup Cadlus, 20, since then, and government agencies, least of all the security forces, have been of any help.
“They went missing without a trace,” said Jamih Ahung, Najir’s elder brother. Ahung is chair of Barangay Guinanta in Al Barka and uses his mother’s surname.
Ahung said the three men left Zamboanga City on an Air Philippines flight on the evening of January 3 for Manila — confirmed by the airline — and were to board a flight to Sudan a few minutes after midnight.
They were to continue their Arabic studies in Sudan but never got to board the plane as they simply disappeared inside NAIA 3.
Before they disappeared, his brother sent a text message to assure the family they had safely arrived in Manila “and in a few minutes (would) board the plane” for Sudan, Ahung said.
NAIA3. FILE PHOTO
Ahung said his brother was excited at the prospect of traveling to Sudan, not only because it was his first outside the Philippines, but also because they have relatives there.
He said the three men never boarded the Qatar Airways flight that was to take them to Khartoum, where their relatives waited to fetch them.
Later efforts to reach his brother, Ahung said, proved futile. His mobile number went dead.
Basilan Vice Governor Al Rasheed Sakalahul said his office checked with the Bureau of Immigration and found out that the three men did not leave left the country at all.
Ahung said the three men’s relatives sought the help of Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND), which, through lawyer Harry Roque, recovered the luggage of the three men and also found out they were taken by some unidentified men.
“We were able to recover their baggage at the NAIA 3 terminal,” Ahung said.
But it has been more than seven months since his brother and the two others disappeared “and until now our family is still clueless, we are still wondering what happened to them.”
“I didn’t know that the airport is a dangerous place, where anybody can easily be abducted,” Ahung added.
He said the Gumuntul family approached practically every agency or group that could possibly help but nothing has come out of their efforts.
“I went to the Commission on Human Right in Zamboanga City (where) some people offered help, but no one can clearly tell us who took him (and his companions),” Ahung said.
Ibarle Kasaran, Rasdie’s father, said they suspected that military operatives took the three men as they disappeared at the height of the military campaign against suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen behind the deaths of 19 soldiers in Al Barka.
“They are innocent. Being from Al Barka doesn’t mean they were involved in the carnage,” he said.
Galuasch Ballaho of the Mindanao Human Rights Action Network (Minhrac) here said they tried to secure CCTV footage of NAIA 3 activities on January 4 but got nothing.
“We were told that CCTV files are erased after a week because they recycle the tapes,” he said.
Ballaho said he was informed that FIND filed a writ of amparo but it was dismissed by a court on February 13 for lack of probable cause.
Ballaho said Minhrac has been conducting a campaign to find the three men “but until now, we also don’t have much information.”
He said aside from the case of the three men, Minhrac was also handling the case of two other men from Al Barka who also disappeared from another place without a trace.
Lawyer Laisa Alamia of the Commission on Human Rights in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao told the Inquirer that the cases had been elevated to the CHR central office in Manila.
“Commissioner (Manuel) Mamauag is also directly attending to and looking into this case,” Alamia said.
The Kabataan Partylist in Davao City also called attention to the February 2011 disappearance of its member, Reynold Marth Ensurez, 17.
Kabataan said Ensurez went missing in Manay, Davao Oriental and was believed to have been taken by the military.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said enforced disappearances of people perceived by security forces to be enemies of the state continue to be reported in the Philippines even under the Aquino administration.
The HRW said the usual suspects were the military or the police based on previous experience.
Among the past cases the HRW cited was 2006 disappearance in Bulacan of university students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan.
Retired Major General Jovito Palparan, then army commander in the region, and several other military officers have been charged with abduction, but Palparan has gone into hiding. With a report from Karlos Manlupig, Inquirer Mindanao