Kin of abducted activists score law enforcement agencies
The family of abducted activist Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado has decried the failure of law enforcement agencies to find their kin along with Nilo Arado as the victims' abduction enters the third month today.
In a statement, Dominado's elder brother Luis Posa and her daughter May Wan said there is "inaction" and "deceptive state of denial" by law enforcement agencies in the failure to solve the abduction.
They pointed out that the investigation and search for the victims have not made any headway despite condemnation and protests from local government units and international human rights groups and non-government organizations.
Dominado and Arado have been missing since April 12 after unidentified armed men waylaid their vehicle before forcibly taking them in Barangay Cabanbanan in Oton town, Iloilo.
The armed men shot and seriously wounded the victims' companion Jose Ely Garachico who was driving the pickup truck they were riding. Garachico was left behind while the two were forced into at least two vehicles used by the armed men.
The badly burned vehicle of the victims was found hours later at a sugarcane field in Janiuay town, around 30 km from the place of the abduction
Arado was regional chair of the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and regional secretary-general of the farmers' organization Pamanggas. He was also the seventh nominee of the party-list group Anakpawis.
Dominado, one of the prominent political detainees during the Marcos dictatorship, was spokesperson in Panay of the Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Para sa Amnestiya (Selda), a group of former political detainees.
In an earlier interview, Senior Supt. Melvin Mongcal, Iloilo provincial police director, said their investigation has not produced any leads or significant progress because of the absence of any physical remains of the victims or other pieces of evidence.
But Dominado's family said they remain hopeful that a breakthrough in the case would be made after it was reported that intelligence agents have confirmed the involvement of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the abduction of activist Jonas Burgos, son of press freedom icon Jose Burgos.
"We are closely following up on developments of Jonas' case as it may provide the breakthrough for the prosecution of the perpetrators in spite of a cover --up and the surfacing of a victim of the enforced disappeared," Dominado's family said in their statement.
They said they have also been approached by "decent elements of the military that expressed their abhorrence of the crimes done to Luisa and Nilo."
"Some information on those responsible for the abduction has come our way though unverified," they said.
They also called on Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez to direct the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate the case.
"Why can't Secretary Raul Gonzalez order the NBI Region 6 to launch an investigation of the abduction happening in his own home turf when he could order Prosecutor Velasco in the Jonas Burgos case? Need he feel the heat of the public outcry to do likewise?" they said in their statement.