Continuing Struggle for Endless Remembering -AFAD

File photo by AFAD

All Souls’ Day is a time to remember and pay our respects to our dearly departed loved ones by visiting their graves, lighting up candles on their tombs, offering them flowers and prayers and above all, reflecting on their memories.

For the families whose loved ones were made to disappear by their own governments, remembering the disappeared is a painful and torturous ordeal. They have no graves to visit, no tombs to light candles and no place to offer flowers. Even silence is an elusive desire to pray as the cry of their disappeared loved ones for truth and justice occupies their memories.

Until now, hundreds of thousands of families around the world are in the eternal search for answers and endless grief to find closure. They are continuously tormented by the fact that as time passes by, they remain uncertain of the fate and whereabouts of their dear desaparecidos. They are being deprived by their own governments of their right to know the truth and to obtain justice. They are forever placed in limbo of hope and despair without knowing when to mourn and to start moving on.

Enforced disappearance is undeniably one of the cruelest forms of human rights violations. It is not only an affront to the person’s basic rights and fundamental freedom but also a trample on the human dignity of the disappeared and of his or her family. It is a tragedy hovering everywhere. Based on the 2012 report of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID), enforced disappearance is occuring in 84 countries around the world. It is most prevalent in the Asian region, a continent where there is no strong regional mechanisms for protection and redress.

Paggunita sa kagitingan at sakripisyo ng mga biktima ng sapilitang pagwala -FIND

Photo by FIND

Ngayong ika-1 at ika-2 ng Nobyembre muli na namang gugunitain ng buong bansa ang mga yumao nating mahal sa buhay. Mapupuno na naman ang lahat ng sementeryo upang muling pagnilayan ang mga makabuluhang alaala at pamana ng mga yumao. Kasabay ng pagpupugay ay ang panalangin na sana ay nasa matahimik na silang kalagayan.

Kakaiba ang undas sa mga pamilya ng biktima ng sapilitang pagwala. Ang mga pamilya ng mga desaparecido ay walang puntod na dadalawin, dahil hanggang sa ngayon ay di pa rin alam ang kinasapitan at kinalalagyan ng mga iwinalang mahal sa buhay. Ang kalagayang ito ang nagbubunsod na magtipon tuwing ika-2 ng Nobyembre ang mga kaanak, kaibigan, mga biktimang lumitaw na buhay at iba’t-ibang organisasyon ng karapatang pantao sa Bantayog ng mga Desaparecido (Flame of Courage Monument). Ito ang nagsisilbing bantayog na nagpapaalaala sa kagitingan, sakripisyo at talinong inialay sa bayan ng mga biktima ng sapilitang pagwala.

Parents dare Palparan: Face us -INQUIRER.net

Parents dare Palparan: Face us
By Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon
February 12, 2012

The families of missing University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño dared fugitive retired general Jovito Palparan to turn himself in and face them.

They want to confront Palparan about a statement he made through his lawyer on Friday saying that he would not surrender because the missing students were still alive.

The two students have been missing since 2006.

Lawyer Edre Olalia, counsel of the Cadapan and Empeño families, said Palparan should “stop putting [his own] lawyers on the spot… [by making them] trifle with the emotions of suffering mothers [when they issue] recklessly bare claims that their young and abused daughters are still  alive.”

Palparan’s lawyer, Jesus Santos, wrote the National Bureau of Investigation on Feb. 1 to say that the missing students were alive.

Palparan’s statement also said that the fugitive retired major general would “try [his] best not to surrender since the filing of  the cases against [him] was done illegally.”

Read complete story @ newsinfo.inquirer.net

Palparan must surrender if he's innocent - Palace

Palparan must surrender if he's innocent - Palace 
By Aurea Calica and Edith Regalado (The Philippine Star)
January 15, 2012

MANILA, Philippines - Fugitive retired Army Maj. Jovito Palparan must surrender now and defend himself before the courts if he is really innocent of the charges against him, Malacañang said yesterday.

“If he really thinks he is innocent, he should come out and face the charges against him,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over dzRB.

The Palace was reacting to Palparan’s appealing the decision of the Malolos regional trial court to junk his bid to stop his prosecution for the disappearance of University of the Philippines student activists Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño in 2006. Valte said Palparan is assured of fair trial.

Read full article @ www.philstar.com

Aquino vows to end impunity

Aquino vows to end impunity
by Chichi Conde, InterAksyon.com
January 13, 2012

MANILA, Philippines -- President Benigno Aquino III has vowed to step up efforts in running after those "who seek to perpetuate the culture of impunity" in the country during the New Year's vin d' honneur at the Palace on Friday.

Aquino said his administration will "not relent" in its accountability efforts as he raised a toast to "stability and prosperity" during the event which was attended by members of the diplomatic community, lawmakers from both the majority and minority, the top brass of the military and the police, and several industry captains.

"I am confident that so long as we stand together and remain consistent in our services to the public, our countrymen will be behind us every step of the way," Aquino said.

Read complete article @ www.interaksyon.com

Palparan won't surrender, says lawyer

Palparan won't surrender, says lawyer
by Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, InterAksyon.com
January 13, 2012

MANILA, Philippines -- Fugitive retired general Jovito Palaran will not surrender and will continue challenging the warrant for his arrest, one of his lawyers said Friday.

Palparan’s newly hired counsel, Jesus Santos, insisted his client is "innocent" of the abduction and enforced disappearance of University of the Philippines students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan.

Santos was the lawyer of Jose Miguel Arroyo, husband of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

He said the government would be better off using the P1 million reward it has raised for Palparan’s capture for assisting the families of soldiers killed in the line of duty.

Short of advising his client to remain in hiding, Santos said that, "as a lawyer and as an individual, since there is a petition we filed in court to conduct the preliminary investigation because the arrest warrant was issued not in accordance with law, I think it is good to wait for whatever maybe the decision of the Regional Trial Court of Bulacan," where the case against Palparan has been filed.

Read full article @ www.interaksyon.com

Statement of the Coalition Against Enforced Disappearance on the International Day of the Disappeared

Photo by AFAD

We have RAGED!
(Run AGainst Enforced Disappearance)

We, the families of the disappeared and human rights advocates in the Philippines, gather today to commemorate the International Day of the Disappeared through our activity, Run Against Enforced Disappearance (RAGED). 

We have RAGED that this day should never have been commemorated if only States around the world including all their instrumentalities had respected the human rights of their citizens.

We have RAGED that enforced disappearance is still being used as a repressive tool to stifle dissent and to silence political opposition. It is one of the cruelest forms of human rights violations.  It violates practically all civil liberties and human rights including the right to life.