3 activists still missing a week after abduction

Unidentified motorcycle-riding armed men abducted at least three members of the militant labor party list Anakpawis in Guipos town in Zamboanga del Sur last August 3. Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported Tuesday night that the whereabouts of the three remain unknown after being missing for more than a week. “This is another incident where Anakpawis party members have been targeted for attack," AHRC said in a statement on its website www.ahrchk.net. It identified the abducted Anakpawis members as Antonino Roda, 39; Eric Buhain, 23; and Julius Sango, 21, who were in a passenger van traveling to Dinas town when they were abducted. As their van approached Balongating village in Guipos at about 2:45 p.m. of Aug. 3, four armed men on motorcycles blocked their way and ordered the driver of the van to stop. The armed men forced Roda, Buhain, Sango and two other female passengers onto another white van in which there were five men. The white van sped off in the direction of Dumalinao town. When the white van reached Dumalinao, the abductors freed the two female passengers. The van then sped off in the direction of Pagadian City. “It was only after the female passengers reported the abduction to the authorities that the incident was made known. However, no investigations have been conducted by the authorities in the area to locate the victims so far. Their whereabouts are still unknown," AHRC said. AHRC said this was “yet another unsolved disappearance case in the Philippines," following the abduction of Jonas Burgos in Quezon City last April 28. Only last April 26, Alan Bumanglag, a member of peasant group Kagimungan, was abducted, supposedly by military personnel in Cagayan. In another case, Romualdo Balbuena, a resident of Quinapondan, Eastern Samar, was forcibly abducted from his house last Feb. 25. “None of the above cases has been solved so far," AHRC said. AHRC said it is difficult to locate victims, particularly if the police or military men are alleged to have been involved in the case. “The police and military are not obliged to allow family members to inspect their camps or speak to their superiors to check whether the persons they are looking for are in their custody. In previous cases, victims who are supposedly abducted and disappeared for days were later found to be in police or military’s custody," it added. - GMANews.TV