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Tag: Enforced Disappearances

Missing

Published by Ellen on February 20, 2012

The fact that retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan has not been arrested two months after the Malolos Regional Trial Court issued a warrant of arrest for him for the 2006 disappearance of UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno and farmer Manuel Merino should have made us realize that there are forces in the government who have remained unenlightened despite President Aquino’s much-vaunted reform agenda.

There’s also the disappointing lack of action by the Aquino administration on the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance which has been signed by 92 countries , 31 of which have ratified the Convention.

The Aquino government also never replied to the annual requests by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances for official invitation to visit the country.

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Revisiting the almost forgotten

Published by Ellen on September 29, 2011

The deafening sound of silence
VERA Files first photobook,”Silenced: Extrajudicial killings and torture in the Philippines,” is an example of the power of images and words combined.

Launched yesterday, the book is a collection of images of human rights victims as sensitively captured by the talented Mario Ignacio IV.

“The two young daughters of a women’s rights advocate try to live normal lives even as they attend the trial of their mother’s murder in Tagbilaran City almost every month. A Lumad family in Davao continues to bereave the death of their patriarch while seeking ways to hold on to their ancestral land. A wife in North Cotabato wrestles with the fact that her husband is a bus bombing suspect and a victim of torture,” Mario describes three of the 14 images in the book.

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Saang puntod ka magsisindi ng kandila?

Published by Ellen on September 6, 2010

Bakas sa mukha ng mag-asawang Fernando at Corazon Fortuna ang sakit at hinagpis ng magulang na naghahanap ng anak. Ganoon din ang mag-amang Pitarico Garcia at Pops Cabaltica.

Hinahanap nina Fernando at Corazon ang kanilang anak na babeng si Daryl, 23 taong gulang at estudyante sa Polytechnic University of the Philippines, na nawawala mula pa noong Marso 26 habang nagre-research tungkol sa kanyang thesis sa Zambales.

Continue readingSaang puntod ka magsisindi ng kandila?