Missing

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DURING the martial law period, many activists disappeared. No, they did not run away; they were victims of enforced / involuntary disappearance. They were victims of the Marcos regime’s brutal policy against its critics.

Enforced or involuntary disappearance is the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty committed by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State. It also covers their refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment, of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which places such person outside the protection of the law.

The problem on the desaparecidos is worldwide and has not spared the Philippines. Since the imposition of martial law, the number of missing persons strongly presumed to have been taken by State forces considerably increased.

The problem of impunity is an ever-existing reality since the Marcos regime. No perpetrator has been punished. A number of administrations succeeded the tyrannical and rapacious Marcos administration yet they all, just like their predecessor, failed to bring about the very elusive justice which is a prerequisite to a just and lasting peace.  Many other problems emerged. While violations of economic and social rights are the order of the day, the violations of civil and political rights, such as involuntary disappearances are unresolved and continue to happen.

In December 2012 Congress passed the landmark Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act, making the Philippines the first country in Asia to criminalize the practice of enforced / involuntary disappearances. The law is in consonance with a constitutionally-protected right that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.”

Politically-motivated enforced disappearances have been a continuing issue, including long after the end, in 1986, of the Marcos dictatorship. Since its establishment in 1980, the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances transmitted 782 cases to the Philippines.

The worst thing that could happen to a nation is it forgetting its history.  An integral part of our history is the reality of enforced disappearances. Just this Wednesday, Sept. 21, was the 45th anniversary of the declaration of martial law. We remember and honor the desaparecidos of such period.

There can be no real peace without justice. And justice is based not in forgetting the past but in remembering the truth of injustice committed to the people.
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