Accents
Panay Alliance-Karapatan for Luisa, et al.
Writ large in blazing red was the theme of the regional assembly of the Panay Alliance-Karapatan, Aug. 10, 2009, at the Jubilee Hall of the St. Clement’s Compound in La Paz, Iloilo City: Papag-unon ang ikasarang kag palaparon ang kahublagan sa pagdampig sang tawhanon nga kinamatarung sang pumuluyo sa atubang sang malubha nga pagpanglapas. (Strengthen and widen the movement in defense of the people’s human rights in the face of grave transgressions thereof.) Nicanor Primavera, chair of Panay Alliance-Karapatan and head of the Western Visayas Ecumenical Council, made it clear in his letter inviting human rights advocates: “The prevailing situation wherein human rights violations continue to be perpetrated with impunity, especially against the poor and marginalized sectors, makes such advocacy a Christian moral imperative.” Karapatan is a nationwide organization founded in the pursuit of truth, justice, peace, and freedom for the people. It is the umbrella of allied organizations aimed at protecting and promoting human rights.
Keynote speaker of the assembly was Lovella de Castro of the Karapatan Documentation Unit. Among the grim data she shared was the total number of extrajudicial killings — 1,032 since Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001 up to the 1st quarter of 2009. Greatly condemned was the increasing number of desaparecidos or the “disappeared,” which include Ilonggos Luisa Posa Dominado and Nilo Arado. A quote from Wikipedia highlights the issue: “The rights group Desparecidos officially reported as of May 15, 2008, 194 victims of enforced disappearances under the Arroyo administration, with the latest abduction of National Democratic Front political consultant for Cagayan Valley, activist Randy Felix Malayao.” The Cordillera Peoples Alliance, an organization which struggles for the protection of the natural environment against the international mining companies and their highly toxic gold mining, lost its spokesperson James Balao in the Cordillera mist. That happened in Sept. 17, 2008. (It seems Wikipedia needs updating.) What does one Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have to say to the families of those who disappear without a trace? Let us pound with questions the supposedly commander-in-chief.
Aug. 10, 2009 also marked the birthday of Luisa Posa Dominado, and as it was in the two previous years, the honoree was in absentia. She who was to be honored with a birthday celebration was nowhere to be found. Some of those present had a funny feeling that the spirit or soul of Luisa “Luing” Posa Dominado was with them—just hovering, even celebrating with them.
She turned 54 this year, exactly 843 days since her abduction, April 12, 2007, by “elements still unknown.” (It is hoped we won’t be using quotation marks and parentheses when we write next, i.e., if the perpetrators would have been identified and served their just desserts.) Luing was, rather is (I choose to use the present tense as I cling to the hope that she’s still alive) the spokesperson of SELDA (Samahan ng mga Detenado Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya), a nationwide organization of political detainees. Her fellow “disappeared” was Nilo Arado of AnakPawis, an organization of the country’s peasantry. Leeboy Garachico, their companion who was shot and left for dead, remains an active defender of human rights as vice chair of Panay Alliance-Karapatan.
One voice for solidarity in the protection of human rights came from Atty. Rudy Lagoc of the Iloilo Legal Assistance Center or ILAC, an organization of human rights lawyers on the ready to provide legal services. Atty. Lagoc, my in-house lawyer, criticized the arrogance of human rights violators. “They commit crimes knowing that they will get away with it.” As to when the day of reckoning will come to those who swagger with impunity—brazen absence of accountability and punishment—your guess is as good as mine, so goes the cliché.
Art was not to be left out in pushing for human rights. Boyet Zoluaga of Ambon (Artista kag Manunulat nga Makibanwahanon, artists and writers for country and people) sang Batingaw, the bell ringing for truth and justice. Noel Pajarillo rendered Beyond the Dying Sun, the lines beautifully sang with optimism, “I see a new world coming where everyone is free…” UP Prof. Tomas Talledo recited in crisp kinaray-a the poem that he himself had composed for the human rights victims, Sanda Ura Rin Ti Kamatayon (They are not dead, they do not die, my own colorless translation.)
We lighted 54 candles to represent Luisa’s 54th birthday. How many more candles will we light, how many more birth anniversaries will we hold before Luisa surfaces? Will it go the way of another cliché, an exercise in futility? Shall we summon all the gods in the heavens to make Luisa and Nilo appear? Shall we keep knocking at the secret doors of the Arroyo administration for a glimmer of truth and subsequent justice? When will peace of mind come to the friends and relatives of Luisa and Nilo, et al.?
Our questions will never cease. The demand for closure on human rights violations cases must never cease.
(Email: lagoc@hargray.com)