LGUs join call for safe release of Nilo, Luing
Local government units in Iloilo have joined the calls for the safe release of abducted activists Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado and Nilo Arado.
At least three city and municipal councils and a provincial board have separately passed resolutions condemning the abduction of the two victims and the shooting of human rights worker Jose Ely Garachico.
The resolutions, passed since April until this June 6 have also called on law enforcement agencies to produce the missing victims and conduct an investigation on the incident.
The local government units that have passed resolutions include the Iloilo provincial board, Iloilo City Council and the municipal councils of Dumangas, Oton and Pototan.
Iloilo provincial board passed a resolution on April 17, a few days after unidentified armed men waylaid the victims vehicle, shot Garachico and abducted Arado and Dominado on April 12 in Barangay Cabanbanan in Oton town, Iloilo.
In a resolution sponsored by provincial board member Domingo Oso Jr., the board called the attack "a brazen act of violence against unarmed members of the opposition and (an) utter disregard for human life and rule of law."
It requested the military and other similar agencies to produce the victims and to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident.
The municipal council of Dumangas also passed a similar resolution on April 18. It said the incident "an injustice not only to their families but the entire constituency of Dumangas."
The resolution sponsored by councilor Rose Marie Doromal noted that Arado and Dominado's husband Tomas were residents of their town.
The municipal council of Oton where the incident happened also unanimously passed a resolution on May 2 condemning the incident.
"This dastardly and terroristic act had affected the tranquility of this municipality in maintaining peace and order and should be condemned in the highest term," the resolution read.
The Iloilo City Council last month also passed a resolution appealing to the victims abductors "to produce their persons before the authorities and respective families."
The resolution sponsored by councilor Erwin Plagata said that "officials and morally sensitive constituents demand that due process of law as provided for under the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines be afforded the victims."
The latest resolution condemning the incident was passed by the municipality of Pavia on June 6.
The victims remain missing two months after they were abducted.
In a statement issued yesterday, the victims' families called on investigators to produce the victims.
"Luing and Nilo remain missing and we are still in aguish and tormented with the thought whether they are still alive or not," said the statement issued by the Save Luisa and Nilo Movement in time with the launching of website for the two victims.