ILOILO City – Abducted by armed men 11 years ago, missing Ilongga activist Maria Luisa Posa-Dominado is among the persons included in the Duterte administration’s so-called list of “terrorists.”
For the family, colleagues and friends of Dominado, such branding from the government itself was proof that state forces were behind her abduction.
“They could never hide from the fact they were the perpetrators of the abduction even with alternative facts,” said Tomas Dominado Jr., Maria Luisa’s husband.
Maria Luisa, together with fellow activists Nilo Arado and Jose Ely Garachico, were on their way back to Iloilo City from Antique when their vehicle was ambushed around 9:30 p.m. on April 12, 2007 in Barangay Cabanbanan, Oton, Iloilo.
While Maria Luisa and Arado were forcibly taken away by armed men, Garachico who was wounded on the neck was left behind.
Maria Luisa was then the spokesperson for Panay of the Samahan ng mga Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Selda) while Arado was the chairperson of Paghugpong sang mga Mangunguma sa Panay kag Guimaras (Pamanggas).
Garachico was then the secretary-general of the human rights alliance Karapatan-Panay.
Over a decade after the abduction, the fates of Maria Luisa and Arado remain uncertain. Family and friends remain hopeful the activists are still alive but they are also managing their expectations.
“Their families have prepared themselves for the possibility that the two are already dead. But if so, who killed them,” said Reyland Vergara, current secretary general of Karapatan-Panay.
Also, without proof of life or death there is no closure in this case, said Vergara.
“The families, friends and colleagues cannot move on,” he lamented.
On April 12, said Vergara, they remembered the 11th anniversary of the abductions at the Jubilee Hall of St. Clement’s Church in La Paz district.
“We are seeking justice for Maria Luisa and Nilo. We are again appealing for the government to conduct an investigation,” said Vergara.
Maria Luisa’s husband Tomas said the tagging of his wife as a terrorist was hurtful.
“Already victims of the atrocity of the Arroyo regime, Luisa and Nilo are still being crushed like insects by the Duterte regime,” he said.
Enforced and involuntary disappearance is a most cruel form of human rights violation, according to Vergara.
Families and friends decried the inaction of the past two administrations of then presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno Simeon Aquino III on the incident.
The families petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus and writ of amparo in the local courts but nothing happened.
They have also brought the case to the United Nations’ Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances.
Supporters and families of the two activists erected a marker in Barangay Cabanbanan, Oton as a tribute to all victims of enforced disappearances in the country and as a sign of protest against cruel means to silence the people.
THE ABDUCTION
Maria Luisa, Arado and Garachico were passing Barangay Cabanbanan after attending an Anakpawis gathering in Antique when a van blocked their pickup truck. Two men alighted from the vans and shot Garachico.
Although wounded, Garachico managed to tell investigators what happened. He said they noticed a green Mitsubishi van tailing them in Tigbauan town, 14 kilometers south of Iloilo City.
As the pickup driver, Garachico said he tried to outrun the van but it managed to overtake and cut the path of the pickup.
Two armed men in shorts and t-shirts got off the van, shot Garachico and yanked him out of the driver’s seat.
One of the armed men took over the vehicle and drove away with Dominado and Arado still onboard, leaving the wounded Garachico behind.
Garachico was taken by the village chief to the police station and then to the hospital. Witnesses said the hijacked vehicle and the van sped off in the direction of Oton town proper and Iloilo City.
Bayan Muna pary-list’s then regional coordinator Hope Hervilla said then, “We could not think of other persons or groups responsible other than the death squads unleashed by the (Arroyo) administration and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”
“They have brought the murders to Panay after spilling blood in other parts of the country. We demand justice for all the victims and the release of our two missing colleagues,” added Hervilla then.
Hervilla is now an undersecretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development under the Duterte administration.
MILITARY’S TAKE
The military had a different take on the incident. Captain Lowen Gil Marquez, then chief of the 32nd Civil Relation Unit, 3rd Civil Relation Group of the Armed Forces, said the incident could be part of a “purging” within the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army – National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
“The Armed Forces of the Philippines sincerely condemn this act of terrorism of the CPP-NPA-NDF to the members of progressive groups,” Marquez said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the 3rd Infantry (Spearhead) Division of the Philippine Army then under Major General Jovenal Narcise categorically denied involvement in the abduction.
“The Philippine Army does not condone, tolerate or sanction such illegal act,” said Colonel David Tan, the spokesperson of the 3ID at the time.
Tan then challenged their accusers to produce evidence./PN
