Rights advocates mark International Day of the Disappeared in Iloilo

ILOILO CITY—Hundreds of activists and human rights advocates in Iloilo on Tuesday joined a protest action to mark the International Day of the Disappeared.

The protesters, led by the Panay Alliance Karapatan, Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Selda), Mothers and Relatives against Tyranny (Martyr) and Save Luisa and Nilo Movement (SLNM), displayed placards and streamers before holding a rally at the Plazoletagay, the city’s main intersection.

They called for the surfacing of more than 200 activists believed to have been abducted by state agents since after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986.

The missing activists include Nilo Arado and Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado, who were waylaid and abducted by unidentified armed men on April 12, 2007 in Barangay Cabanbanan, Oton town in Iloilo.

Dominado was the spokesperson in Panay of Selda, the organization of former political detainees, while Arado was regional chairman of the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.

Militant groups have accused military agents of being behind the abduction but these have been repeatedly denied by military officials.

“We cry for justice, not only for Luisa and Nilo, but for all victims of enforced disappearances. We will search without end for our missing co-activists until they will be surfaced,” said Reylan Vergara, secretary general of Panay Alliance-Karapatan.

Vergara said eight cases of enforced disappearance have been reported under the 14-month administration of President Aquino.

“This is alarming because the number of desaparecidos (disappeared) continues to rise,” he said.

He called on the President to stop the continued practice of tagging activists as communists and terrorists.

“We hope that ending and resolving the mounting cases of disappearances and other human rights violations will be among the priorities of the present government in its effort to bring lasting justice and peace in the country,” Vergara said.