Kin of missing activists celebrate 'incomplete' Christmas
Rosemarie Arado appeals for the release of her husband Nilo
and Maria Luisa Posa-Dominado during a program
commemorating Domonado's 52nd birthday last August 10.
May Wan Dominado is busy wrapping gifts for her cousins and relatives in time for Christmas.
She will also accompany her younger sister Tamara,15, to the mall to buy presents.
For the first time, she is taking over these roles for her Nanay.
They do not know if her mother, Maria Luisa Posa-Dominado, will be home for Christmas. But they hope so.
Her mother has remained missing eight months after she and fellow activist Nilo Arado were forcibly taken by heavily armed in Barangay Cabanbanan in Oton town in Iloilo on April 12. Their companion, human rights workers Jose Ely Garachico was shot and seriously wounded but was left behind.
The victims' vehicle was found hours later badly burned in a sugarcane field in Barangay Guadalupe in Janiuay town in Iloilo around 30 km from where the activists were waylaid and taken. But there were no traces of the victims.
Dominado with daughter Mary Wan in
detention for rebellion charges during the
Aquino administration.
The victims' families and colleagues have accused the military of carrying out the abduction but this has been repeatedly denied by military officials.
Aside from following up the cases they filed in court, May Wan, 25, said it has also been difficult acting as a mother to her sister.
She said it would have been difficult if her mother had not trained her to be independent especially when Dominado was detained for several years for rebellion charges during the Aquino administration.
But her mother's absence is felt by the whole clan.
"Nanay was the main organizer of family gatherings. She always found a way for us to be together," said May Wan in an interview on Friday, after she attended a court hearing on the petition for a writ of amparo filed by the victims' families.
Despite being always busy with her work in the various militant organizations she's involved with, from organizing farmers in Maasin and Janiuay towns to campaigning for the partylist groups Bayan Muna and Anakpawis or meeting with former political detainees, Dominado spared time for the family gatherings.
May Wan said her mother would assign tasks and responsibilities for family gatherings held monthly and on special occasions like Christmas and New Year at the Posa family compound in Jaro District in Iloilo City.
"Her absence is felt because it's hard to fill her role," said May Wan.
Arado's wife Rosemarie, 36, said her husband never failed to come home every Christmas eve despite his busy schedule.
As regional chair of the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and secretary general of the farmers group Pamanggas, Arado was frequently not home, attending meetings and leading campaigns for farmers' rights in provinces on Panay Island.
"But he came home for Christmas with toys and clothes for our son (Daniel Marshal)," said Rosemarie. "We don't give gifts to each other anymore because it's all for our son."
She said Nilo would stay in their house in Dumanggas town in Iloilo until December 26 when he would be out for work again until December 30 for the New Year's Day celebration.
DM, who turned 7 on December 22, has stopped asking for toys and other Christmas presents.
"He only asks that his Papa will be home," said Rosemarie.
She said each day that her husband remains missing, it has become more difficult to answer their son's questions.
"He always ask if his Papa is still coming home and if my going to Iloilo City to attend hearings going to bring him back."
Rosemarie said that they are "realistic" to consider that the two victims might not be found based on similar cases all over the country. But they remain hopeful.
"Our hopes do not depend on the filing of petitions in courts," said May Wan. "As long as we have not found them, we will not lose hope."