One year after: Search for Luing and Nilo continues
May Wan Dominado was not surprised when she failed to pass last year's bar examinations.
Her hopes of becoming a lawyer had already been shelved on April 12 last year, the day after she left for Manila for her review classes.
A day before, she had hugged and bid her mother Ma. Luisa "Luing" Posa-Dominado goodbye at the Iloilo shipping port.
That was the last time she saw her.
The next day, heavily armed men abducted her mother and fellow activist Nilo Arado in Barangay Cabanbanan in Oton town, 7 km south of Iloilo City. The unidentified men waylaid the victims' vehicle, shot and seriously wounded human rights worker Jose Ely Garachico and left him for dead.
Dominado, a prominent political detainee during the Marcos Dictatorship, was the spokesperson in Panay of the Samahan ng Mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (Selda) while Arado was the chair of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Panay when they were abducted.
Garachico survived but his two companions remain missing until now. Their vehicle was found badly burned in a sugarcane field in Janiuay town 30 km from where they were waylaid.
May Wan rushed back to Iloilo City on April 13 after canceling her enrollment for the review classes and was thrust into the agonizing campaign to look for her mother and Arado.
She decided to take the bar exams anyway with limited review and in between attending court hearings, following up tips and leads and joining campaigns.
A year after, she is clinging to the dimmest hopes that her mother is still alive.
Not losing hope
"The burden gets heavier and heavier as the days go by," said May Wan. "But we should never give up hope especially at times when it is most tempting."
The victims' families and colleagues have blamed military agents for the abduction pointing to the similarity of the manner of the abduction with that of other cases in other places in the country. But this has been repeatedly denied by military officials.
May Wan and Arado's wife Rosemarie had filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus against police and military officials. But this was dismissed last year because none of the witnesses and evidence could prove that the respondents were involved in the abduction.
They subsequently filed a petition for a writ of amparo before the Iloilo Regional Trial Court against President Macapagal-Arroyo and nine other respondents, all police and military officials.
All the respondents have submitted replies to the writ denying involvement in the abduction. They also said that they have exerted effort to find the victims.
Legal battle
The Office of the Solcitor General has filed a motion to dismiss the petition and to drop the President among the respondents citing her immunity from civil or criminal cases during her incumbency.
It said the petitioners have failed to back up their allegations that the respondents are involved in the abduction. It also pointed out the security risks of allowing access to these places without sufficient grounds.
Government lawyers have also asked the court to dismiss the petition on the ground that it is "baseless" and failed to follow procedures.
Judge Narciso Aguilar, presiding judge of the Iloilo Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 33 where the petition was filed, is set to issue an omnibus ruling on several issues including whether the President should be included as a respondent. Aguilar will also decide whether some of the respondents will be summoned to testify in court as requested by lawyers of the petitioners.
Fear and longing
The tedious legal process is taking its toll on the victims' families.
"I sometimes fear that if Nanay is still alive, our efforts could push her captors to make things harder for her," said May Wan.
On top of her continued efforts to find her mother, she has assumed taking care of her 15-year old sister Tamara while continuing her online job.
Her father Tomas has not surfaced after he was tagged by the military as a ranking rebel leader on Panay Island.
"I feel like I've aged so many years," said May Wan who will turn 26 on May 1.
Tamara said she misses her mother so much.
"I cannot count how many times I’ve hoped, dreamt, and wished on stars that my mom just came home on this day last year, safe and sound and maybe bringing along a bag of food to eat," Tamara said in a statement.
But she has harsh words for those who took her mother.
"Whoever did this to my mom and Tito (Arado) and all the countless others who have suffered the same fate... You should be ashamed of what you’re doing."
Rosemarie said she has continuously fought against depression by taking comfort in the thought that her husband lived and fought for a noble cause.
"The hardest part is not knowing whether he is still alive or not. When should I stop waiting for him? When should I stop looking out of our window for him?" she said.
But the loss has been hardest on their 7-year old son Daniel Marshal.
Since his father was abducted, DM has refused to leave their hometown Dumangas and go to Iloilo City.
He has refused to say why but Rosemarie believes he is afraid that he would also be abducted like his father.
Continued search
May Wan and Rosemarie said they will never give up looking for their loved ones even if it will take years.
"If they are still alive, they would also hope that we won't give up," said May Wan.
May Wan has brought her search for clues and leads to help find her mother to cyberspace.
She has posted photos of her mother and accounts of the abduction, along with contact information of the "Save Luisa and Nilo Movement (SLNM)" in her Friendster account.
The SLNM has also put up a a website and online petition site in the hope of pressuring those who have taken their kin to release them unharmed and for authorities to solve their abduction.
The website (www.saveluisaandnilo.cjb.net) aims to gain international attention to the abduction of the two and other desaparecidos or victims of involuntary disappearance in the country.
The online petition has gathered 1,360 signatories as of April 10 from the Philippines, US, Germany, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, China, Belgium, United Arab Emirates and France among others.
May Wan said she has found strength in the families of other victims like Edith Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos.
"But I feel worse when I see other people experiencing the same pain that my family is undergoing," she said.
Last month, May Wan along with human rights advocates brought the cases of her mother and Arado and the abducted activists to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The UNHRC is scheduled to conduct its Universal Period Review of the human rights situation in 10 countries including the Philippines.
"We hope that this will put pressure on the government to produce Nanay and Tito Nilo," said May Wan.
But life must go on for the victims' families while they continue to look for their loved ones.
May Wan said she will take review classes and take the bar exams next year and help in cases of human rights violations.
Rosemarie said she is busying herself with her work as a barangay councilor in Dumangas.
First anniversary
Tomorrow (April 12), May Wan and Rosemarie will be joining activists and friends of the victims in a caravan from Molo District to the site of the abduction.
This will be followed by a rally at the grounds of the Iloilo provincial capitol before the group will hold a protest march in the city's main streets.
"We are doing anything possible to find them because we have nothing to lose now," said May Wan.