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Update on the James Balao Case
17 October 2008
Day 30: Mabtad!
Last September 17, intelligence agents of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in collaboration with the Philippine National Police (PNP) abducted James Balao at gunpoint in Lower Tomay, La Trinidad. The incident took place in front of the St. Therese School and Church, a few meters from Camp Dangwa - the PNP Cordillera regional headquarters.
Thirty days after, we continue to search for him. We continue to call for his immediate and unconditional surfacing. We continue to demand accountability from the Arroyo regime whose policy Oplan Bantay Laya has attacked people working for social justice like James.
At this point in our search, state agents have been trying to distort the facts of the case. The community of the place of incident has been experiencing harassments from civilian-clothed state security agents who are constantly present in the area. Two women claiming to be lawyers introduced themselves as connected to the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) in an attempt to misrepresent our organizations. They tried to speak with those who were present during the time of James' abduction in an attempt to twist the facts and data of the incident and even to intimidate or discourage people from speaking the truth. Some volunteers mounting posters of James Balao in the effort to gather more information on his whereabouts also reported several incidents of suspicious looking men taking photos of them without their permission.
We condemn these acts that desperately try, not only to hinder us from locating James, but to wash away the accountability of the State and its AFP and PNP. It is not only James' life that is in peril right now, but also those who know the truth about the incident.
These compel us to heighten our search and doubly stress the need for more people to speak up against enforced disappearances.
Today, we join the declaration for Mabtad Kaigorotan! In Cordillera indigenous culture, this is a call for collective mobilization and action to search for the missing.
We encourage all peace loving people to join the Balao Family, his friends and colleagues, and respond to this call. As we strongly show the State that we will not tolerate enforced disappearances, we are with the hope that they will surface James and with the hope that we can frustrate future violations like this.
We appeal especially to the community in Lower Tomay to unite during these trying times and find the courage to speak and preserve the truth. It is through a strong sense of community solidarity that we can protect and defend our rights.
We remain hopeful that we will find James. We gather our strength from the support that has poured in so willingly from all over.
We also welcome the Supreme Court decision granting the writ of amparo for the Manalo brothers who were victims of enforced disappearance for 18 months until they were able to escape from their captors. Their case clearly establishes that state agents perpetrate these types of enforced disappearances.
It is the 30th day since James was taken from us and we hope to find him at the soonest possible time.#
For reference:
Jude Baggo
Secretary General
Cordillera Human Rights Alliance
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