Rights group sounds alarm over 'pattern' of abductions as 2 more activists 'disappear'

MANILA — Two more activists were supposedly abducted by armed men in Nueva Ecija last month and haven’t been seen since, their families said Tuesday, adding to what rights group Karapatan said is an alarming “pattern” of abductions of activists under the Marcos administration.

photo of presscon

photo of presscon

photo of presscon

Lee Sudario, 34, and Norman Ortiz, 25, were just about to leave Barangay Bantug, Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija on the wee hours of September 29, based on Ortiz’s last message to his sister, Nica, at 1 a.m. that day.

When he could no longer be reached in the next 2 days, Ortiz’s family started looking for them.

Some witnesses who live in the area told Ortiz’s sisters that they saw 2 men who fit the descriptions of Sudario and Ortiz being forced to board a van at around 1 or 2 am of that day.

“Ang sabi po nila, noong oras po na yun, nagtatahulan daw po yung mga aso. Bale natatakot po yung mga tao na lumabas kasi po, meron daw pong van tapos may lumabas na 'di bababa sa sampung katao tapos meron pong isinasakay sa van. Ang description po nila, naka-fatigue at may mga baril po,” Ortiz’s sister, Nica said at a press conference.

“‘Yung isa po, nakatakbo pa daw po sa sementeryo. Tapos hinabol po siya ng mga kalalakihan at sapilitang pinasakay sa van,” she added.

The families of Ortiz and Sudario said they tried looking for them in different military camps but military officers supposedly refused to sign enforced disappearance forms.

On Tuesday, they filed a letter before the Commission on Human Rights seeking assistance in their search for their missing kin.

According to Karapatan, the families have reasons to believe the military was involved in the disappearance of the 2 activists.

Sudario’s name was mentioned as among the alleged New People’s Army (NPA) members charged by the Philippine National Police (PNP) Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) with violating the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity in November 2022.

The families of both activists in Aurora and Nueva Ecija also allegedly experienced threats and intimidation from the military and state agents before their disappearance, similar to what happened to other abducted activists.

“Bago madukot si Norman at si Lee ay may nararanasan nang harassment ang pamilya ni Norman at Lee. Ganun po ang nangyari kina Jhed and Jonila, sa mga pamilya nila. Na dinidikit ang mga pangalan nila, na miyembro diumano sila, supporter diumano sila ng New People’s Army,” Karapatan legal counsel Maria Sol Taule, referring to the case of environmental activists Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro.

Karapatan legal counsel Maria Sol Taule @soltaule said what happened to the Ortiz and Sudario families is part of a pattern where activists are accused of being NPA members, their families are threatened, before the activists are abducted. pic.twitter.com/v2vsiSVQBY

— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) October 10, 2023

Castro and Tamano were initially presented by the anti-insurgency task force as rebel surrenderers only for them to declare in a press conference last month that they were, in fact, abducted.

They said they were conducting research on the Manila Bay reclamation in Bataan on September 2 when military personnel forced them to board a van and coerced them to sign an affidavit indicating that they voluntarily left the rebel movement.

• 'Surrendered' activists say they were abducted, reject coerced affidavits

“At makikita po natin na after the harassment, susunod na yung pinakamalalang violation na gagawin ng ahente ng estado which is, 'yun nga, 'yung pagdukot. At magugulat na lang tayo later on, ihaharap sa media bilang diumano surrenderees o rebel returnees,” Taule explained.

Karapatan noted that in a span of 16 months under the Marcos administration, 11 activists were disappeared:

ACTIVISTS DISAPPEARED UNDER THE MARCOS, JR. ADMINISTRATION:

• Elgene Mungcal - July 3, 2022 in Moncada, Tarlac

• Ma. Elena Pampoza - JUly 3, 2022 in Moncada, Tarlac

• Ariel Badiang - February 7, 2023 in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon

• Renel delos Santos - April 19, 2023 in Hinigaran, Negros Occidental

• Denald Laloy Mialen - April 19, 2023 in Hinigaran, Negros Occidental

• Lyn Grace Martullinas - April 19, 2023 in Hinigaran, Negros Occidental

• Dexter Capuyan - April 28, 2023 in Taytay, Rizal

• Gene Roz Jamil de Jesus - April 28, 2023 in Taytay, Rizal

• Bea Lopez - September 16, 2023 in Negros Occidental

• Norman Ortiz - September 29, 2023 in Nueva Ecija

• Lee Sudario - September 29, 2023 in Nueva Ecija

Source: KARAPATAN

Karapatan no longer included in the list activists like Castro and Tamano who were abducted but who later surfaced.

Also not on the list is the abduction of development workers Dyan Gumanao and Armand Dayoha in a Cebu City port in January this year, which was caught on video and went viral. They were found a few days after.

• Missing development workers in Cebu found; footage shows alleged abduction

Three more indigenous peoples rights activists were reported abducted in Oriental Mindoro on September 19, only for the military to claim in an NTF-ELCAC press conference Monday that they were arrested for being NPA members and have sought “custody” under the 203rd Infantry Battalion.

“Hindi na bago 'yung ganitong cases ng abduction at 'yung paghahanap sa kanila, sa mga victims as surrenderees.

“Pero recently, itong panahon ni Marcos, talagang may trend na ganito at sunod-sunod halos 'yung mga cases. 'Yung pagitan ng Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro at ito ay halos walang 3 weeks, kasama na yung 3 kabataan sa Mindoro… 'Yung frequency ng ganitong cases, nakakaalarma siya para sa amin kasi at any point in time, pwede nilang gawin 'yun, kuhanin ang kahit na sino na pinaghihinalaan nilang NPA, pagbibintangan nila ng kung anu-ano,” Taule said.

Like Sudario and Ortiz, activists Dexter Capuyan and Gene Roz Jamil de Jesus were reportedly taken by armed men who identified themselves as members of the CIDG.

Tricycle drivers in a subdivision in Taytay, Rizal supposedly saw armed men arresting 2 people who fit Capuyan’s and De Jesus’ descriptions on April 28.

Their families filed a petition for habeas corpus before the Court of Appeals to compel the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to surface their kin but the appellate court junked their petition based on doubts surrounding the identities of the 2 individuals abducted.

The court instead suggested that a petition for issuance of a writ of amparo is more appropriate because the petitions were not about illegal detention or deprivation of liberty of Capuyan and De Jesus, but about their alleged abduction and disappearance.

• Family of 2 missing activists urge CA to compel AFP, PNP to surface kin
• Kin of missing activists continue to call for their release

Taule said they are studying their legal options and exploring the possibility of a congressional probe to look into the enforcement of the Anti-Enforced Disappearance law, which was passed in 2012.

In the meantime, the families of the missing activists could only call on their abductors to release their kin.

“Hindi namin alam kung saan siya hahanapin. Kaya nananawagan ako na kung sino man ang dumukot sa kanya, ilitaw siya sa amin na kanyang pamilya. Ipakita. Labis po kaming nag-aalala sa kanyang kaligtasan,” Sudario’s sister, Mary, pleaded in a recorded video message.

“Kung sino man po may hawak sa kapatid namin, ilitaw niya na po siya. Grabe na po ang paghahanap namin,” Nicole Ortiz said.

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