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Sunday, April 30, 2017
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ILOILO City – Are Ilonggo activists Maria Luisa Posa-Dominado and Nilo Arado still alive? Armed men abducted them 10 years ago and their whereabouts remain unknown up to now.
While travelling home from Antique on the evening of April 12, 2007 the two became victims of enforced disappearance in Barangay Cabanbanan, Oton, Iloilo.
“Their immediate families suffer the pain of loss and helplessness, and thinking that their loved ones may be in a very difficult situation. Luisa’s and Nilo’s children are still in the dark as to what happened to them,” said Reylan Vergara, secretary general of the human rights group Panay Alliance-Karapatan.
Recently, families, friends and co-workers of the two missing activists marked the 10th year of their disappearance. At Jaro Plaza across the Jaro Cathedral they displayed protest signs and lit candles.
Dominado was the spokesperson for Panay of the Samahan ng mga Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Selda) while Arado was the chairperson of Paghugpong sang mga Mangunguma sa Panay kag Guimaras (Pamanggas).
“Enforced and involuntary disappearance is a most cruel form of human rights violation,” said Vergara.
The families of Dominado and Arado decry the government’s inaction on the incident.
“It has been 10 years but the Posa family has not received any rightful answer,” said Louie Posa, brother of Luisa. “Where is the justice the government was telling us about?”
There is no closure on their case even after 10 years, and this made the situation even worse, Vergara lamented.
The families petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus and writ of amparo in the local courts but nothing happened.
They have also brought the case to the United Nations’ Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances.
Supporters and families of the two activists erected a marker in Barangay Cabanbanan, Oton as a tribute to all victims of enforced disappearances in the country and as a sign of protest against cruel means to silence the people.
THAT FATEFUL NIGHT
Dominado, Arado and fellow activist Jose Ely “Leeboy” Garachico were ambushed around 9:30 p.m. in Barangay Cabanbanan some seven kilometers from Iloilo City.
Garachico was then the secretary-general of Panay Alliance-Karapatan.
While Dominado and Arado were forcibly taken away by armed men, Garachico who was wounded on the neck was left behind.
The three activists were passing Barangay Cabanbanan after attending an Anakpawis gathering in Antique when a van blocked their pickup truck. Two men allegedly alighted from the vans and shot Garachico.
Although wounded, Garachico managed to tell investigators what happened. He said they noticed a green Mitsubishi van tailing them in Tigbauan town, 14 kilometers south of Iloilo City.
As the pickup driver, Garachico said he tried to outrun the van but it managed to overtake and cut the path of the pickup.
Two armed men in shorts and t-shirts got off the van, shot Garachico and yanked him out of the driver’s seat.
One of the armed men took over the vehicle and drove away with Dominado and Arado still onboard, leaving Garachico behind.
Garachico was taken by the village chief to the police station and then to the hospital. Witnesses said the hijacked vehicle and the van sped off in the direction of Oton town proper and Iloilo City.
Bayan Muna pary-list’s Hope Hervilla, regional coordinator said then, “We could not think of other persons or groups responsible other than the death squads unleashed by the (Arroyo) administration and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”
“They have brought the murders to Panay after spilling blood in other parts of the country. We demand justice for all the victims and the release of our two missing colleagues,” added Hervilla then.
Hervilla is now an undersecretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
SUSPICIOUS MILITARY
The military then had a different take on the incident. Captain Lowen Gil Marquez, then chief of the 32nd Civil Relation Unit, 3rd Civil Relation Group of the Armed Forces, said the incident could be part of a “purging” within the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army – National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
“The Armed Forces of the Philippines sincerely condemn this act of terrorism of the CPP-NPA-NDF to the members of progressive groups,” Marquez said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the 3rd Infantry (Spearhead) Division of the Philippine Army then under Major General Jovenal Narcise categorically denied involvement in the abduction.
“The Philippine Army does not condone, tolerate or sanction such illegal act,” said Colonel David Tan, the spokesperson of the 3ID at the time.
Tan then challenged their accusers to produce evidence./PN
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