Activists protest ‘enforced, involuntary disappearances’

HUMAN rights advocates yesterday renewed calls for President Benigno Aquino to stop what has been termed “enforced disappearances” of activists as they marked the International Day of the Disappeared with a rally in front of a shopping mall in Quezon City where an activist was abducted in 2007.

“What have you done for our missing loved ones?” said Mary Guy Portajada, head of the Families of the Disappeared for Justice, referring to the president in her address to attendees of the rally.

Portajada said 206 activists went missing during the nine-year administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The enforced disappearances, however, did not stop when she stepped down last year. “There are now eight victims of enforced disappearance under [Aquino]. Where is justice?” she said.

Families and supporters of missing activists rallied in front of the mall where activist Jonas Burgos was abducted on April 28, 2007. Some army officers linked to the abduction are now facing charges.

“The persistence of this practice and the continuing reports of disappearances under the present regime have diminished our faith of achieving justice for our loved ones under [Aquino's] leadership,” Portajada said.

The group vowed to continue lobbying in Congress for the ratification of the UN convention for the protection of persons against enforced and involuntary disappearances, which was adopted by the UN general assembly in December 2006.

“Many of us have been searching for our loved ones for more than two decades now, and we will not wait for a president who only has empty words to offer. We, the families of the disappeared, will not stop looking for and in achieving justice for them,” Portajada said.

Report from ucanews.com