Kin renew call for justice for EJK victims

MANILA, Philippines — The families of victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and enforced disappearances yesterday held a candle lighting ceremony in Quezon City to remember their dead during the observance of All Souls’ Day.

In a statement, the Pamilya ng Desaparecidos para sa Katarungan said they would continue to seek justice for their missing relatives and hold the government accountable for the rising cases of EJKs and enforced disappearances.

“This tale is as old as time – activists, dissenters, critics, changemakers, revolutionaries are red-tagged, labeled, hunted down, killed and arrested in an attempt by those in power to silence them,” the group said.

“When our loved ones were kidnapped, the government feigned ignorance about their whereabouts, covered their tracks and then blamed the organizations and social movements they belonged to evade accountability,” it added.

Based on the group’s data, there are more than 1,000 desaparecidos in the country, with some of them missing for more than a decade now.

The group recorded 613 cases of enforced disappearance during the regime of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

There were 335 cases during the presidency of Corazon Aquino; under Fidel Ramos, 39; Joseph Estrada, 26; Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 296, and Benigno Aquino III, 29.

At least 13 cases of enforced disappearances have been documented in the four years of President Duterte’s administration, Erlinda Cadapan, chairperson of Desaparecidos and mother of missing student Sherlyn Cadapan, said.

“Perhaps more have disappeared as the government’s drug war continues,” Cadapan said.

The group vowed to continue to expose what it describes as the state’s red-tagging, harassment and other violent schemes. In recent years, the military has denied systematic EJKs and says its operations against activists are part of legitimate counterinsurgency.