New cases of enforced disappearances continue to mount under the current Marcos Jr. regime, human rights groups said on Friday, August 30, marking the commemoration of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.
Since Marcos assumed office in 2022, at least 14 persons have gone missing after reportedly being abducted, making enforced disappearance a “fast-growing phenomenon,” human rights group Karapatan said.
Most abductions took place in “heavily militarized regions,” including places covered by the controversial Memorandum Order No. 32 issued under former President Rodrigo Duterte, according to Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura, a group advocating for farmers’ and agricultural workers’ rights.
Those who have been reported forcibly disappeared in recent months are the following:
James Jazmines, brother of National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultant Alan Jazmines, who was last seen in Albay on August 23
Rowena Dasig, environmental advocate, who was last seen after being released from detention outside the Lucena City District Jail on August 21
William Lariosa, trade union organizer, who was last seen in Quezon before being arrested on April 21
More recently, two youth activists Andy Magno and Vladimir Maro were abducted by suspected state forces in San Pablo, Isabela in the Cagayan Valley Region on September 11, 2024.
Magno and Maro are both youth activists turned peasant organizers. Magno is a graduate of the Development Studies program in the University of the Philippines – Manila, a former chairperson of the youth environment organization, Minggan University of the Philippines Manila, and the former coordinator for Kabataan Partylist – Cagayan Valley. Maro is an advocate for migrant workers’ rights.
Condemning the government’s refusal to cooperate in resurfacing those missing, Karapatan also stressed that enforced disappearances have “long been employed by tyrannical regimes as a strategy to spread terror within a society.” “The families, support systems and communities of the victims often experience harassment and other hardships in the course of their search for their loved ones,” the group said.