Insurgency: Abduction of 2 Women Activists

The insurgency continues with the usual clashes, surrenders, and deaths but this week there is only one story worth talking about and that is the story of the two missing environmental activists. On September 2nd two girls who are environmental activists disappeared without a trace. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1826799/disappearance-of-2-anti-reclamation-activists-sends-alarm-bells-ringing

Days following the observation of the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the list of desaparecidos under the Philippines’ current administration is feared to grow after two environmental activists went missing and believed to have been abducted in the province of Bataan.

On September 2, just days after the international day of the disappeared, two environment activists — Jonila Castro, 21, and Jhed Tamano, 22 — were reported missing and were later said to have been abducted by armed men in Barangay Lati, Orion town, in Bataan.

AKAP KA Manila Bay and human rights group Karapatan reported that the two were on their way to conduct relief operations and community consultation meetings with members of coastal communities when they were abducted by four unidentified armed men.

“Bataan netizens went in uproar as Facebook posts of several concerned citizens, at around 8:00 pm, September 2, claims to witness the violent abductions of then unidentified two young women by armed men, riding away in a gray SUV, just in front of the office of Orion Water District at Brgy. Lati, Orion, Bataan,” said Karapatan Central Luzon in a statement.

“Yesterday, September 3, we confirmed that the said abduction without doubt can definitely be the enforced disappearance of two young women environmental human rights defenders Jhed Tamano, 22, and Jonila Castro, 21,” the group added.

Prior to it, the two volunteers had reportedly already been subject to various forms of harassment, including surveillance.

A pair of slippers and a sandal, positively identified as Castro and Tamano’s, were discovered in the area where they were believed to have been forcibly taken.

As of September 4, the whereabouts of the two missing volunteers remained unknown.

AKAP Ka Manila Bay is a network of fisherfolk, church people, youth, and other sectors dedicated to defending the environment, homes, and livelihoods of coastal communities affected by the Manila Bay reclamation projects.

The AFP and PNP were shortly accused of abducting them.

https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2023/9/7/orion-bataan-activists-abduction.html

Progressive groups said they believe authorities are involved in the abduction of female environmental activists Jhed Tamano and Jhonila Castro, who were reportedly forcibly taken in the evening of Sept. 2 in Orion, Bataan.

In a press conference at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Wednesday, members of different groups led by Anakbayan and Karapatan recalled the abduction of the two activists.

[Translation: Those who took them were armed...so we believe that those behind their abduction are the NTF-ELCAC, the police and the military.]

Anakbayan said Tamano and Castro previously reported about armed individuals following them wherever they went.

[Translation: Before Jhonila and Jed disappeared, they had been reporting about unknown armed people spying on them, following them wherever they went.]

The only evidence against the PNP and AFP is the fact that armed men were reported to have been following the girls, witnesses saw them forcibly taken, and a slipper belonging to one of the girls was found at the scene of their disappearance. The PNP and AFP denied the allegations.

It was not until 13 days later on the 15th of September that these two ladies resurfaced. The AFP claimed that the two had surrendered to them and were kept safe in hiding.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/882353/afp-2-missing-activists-not-abducted-but-hiding-from-fellows-in-the-movement/story/

The two reported missing environment activists were not abducted by state security forces but were hiding from their associates in the communist movement, a top official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said Saturday.

“There was no abduction. They asked for help from their acquaintances. First, to hide them from their fellows who want them back,” AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar said during the News Forum in Quezon City.

"They want to leave the movement because things were getting difficult and there was also a group that disliked them. They want peace, they want security,” Aguilar said.

“I heard that they contacted somebody to keep them safe… from their former colleagues who want to force them to return to the movement,” he said.

On Friday, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said activists Jhed Tamano, 22, and Jonila Castro, 21, yielded to authorities in Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan on September 12.

National Security Council (NSC) Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said Tamano and Castro were in good health.

According to the NTF-ELCAC, the two activists were linked to the New People’s Army (NPA) rebel group.

Bataan Provincial Police Office public information office chief Police Captain Carlito Buco Jr. said the two decided to surrender to authorities on September 6.

They asked for help from an acquaintance who picked them up and brought them to Guagua, Pampanga. Their acquaintance communicated with another person who contacted the authorities.

The inconsistencies in this story were quickly pointed out. 

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/09/16/2296764/groups-cite-inconsistencies-alleged-surrender-2-activists

"The government’s version of events begs so many questions, foremost of which is, why would Jonila and Jhed bother to ask [a woman named] 'Ate’s help and surrender in such a roundabout way, when a soldier by the name of Justin Gutierrez had already been frequenting Jonila’s family home in Plaridel, Bulacan since 2022 to 'convince' the activist to 'clear her name' and had even left his number with Jonila’s mother just in case Jonila decides to surrender," said the groups.

"The two activists could have also approached Jhed’s stepfather, who, as a former soldier, presumably has connections to the military."

A photo grab from a CCTV footage showing Jonila and Jhed walking on a road near the time of their reported abduction also did not show the aforementioned "Ate," nor did it show them normally entering a vehicle as claimed by the NTF-ELCAC and Philippine National Police (NTF-ELCAC)

Only brief video clips of the two were also presented yesterday and with no actual copies of their affidavits provided to the media for scrutiny.

"That they were not personally presented during the press conference reveals a lot of things. The most obvious of which is that the NTF-ELCAC and the PNP are not prepared to present them for questioning by the media, where they could be asked questions regarding the circumstances of their abduction," the groups continued.

"Further, the voluntariness of the execution of the alleged affidavits is of doubtful validity, considering that the same was signed while the two were under the custody of a military unit, and were not represented by a lawyer of their own choice."

"At no time during the press conference did the NTF-ELCAC and PNP say that Jonila and Jhed are facing charges. With no legal reason for State authorities to detain them, they should be released to their families immediately."

These two ladies allegedly signed a sworn affidavit to confirm the story of the AFP in the presence of lawyers from the PAO and CHR. They were then allowed to attend a press conference to once more affirm the story of the AFP. But once on camera before the nation they recanted their story and claimed that they had been abducted and that the affidavits were coerced.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/19/23/surrendered-activists-say-they-were-abducted

Two environmental activists whom authorities said last week had surrendered to the military told a government-organized press conference on Tuesday that they had been abducted and coerced into signing affidavits.

Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano were flanked by government officials in a press conference called by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and were expected to shed light on reports that they had been abducted.

(The truth is the military forced us into a van. We were forced to say we surrendered because our lives were being threatened. That is the truth.)

Tamano, a coordinator of the Ecumenical Bishops Forum, said that she and Castro were walking on the road on September 2 when they were grabbed. Activist and environmental groups earlier said the two were taken in Orion, Bataan while conducting research on Manila Bay reclamation.

(An SUV stopped in front of us and grabbed us. They forced us to go with them. That, too, is the truth. We even thought they were a [kidnapping] syndicate but they knew our names.)

Castro, at the same press conference, disavowed the affidavits.

(It is also not true that we wanted to be in military custody. The contents of the affidavits are not true because those were done and signed while we were in the military camp. We had no choice at that point.)

Their version of events seems to align with that of the eyewitnesses which is that the girls were forcibly abducted by armed men in an SUV. But this turn of events took the NTF-ELCAC, AFP, and PNP completely by surprise. Unable to come up with a reason for this 180 the NTF-ELCAC and AFP have posited that this was an elaborate hoax to discredit the government. 

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/09/21/2297835/afp-sees-sinister-npa-move-activists-retraction

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is seeing a sinister move supposedly by the New People’s Army (NPA) to embarrass the government by using two environmentalists who, after supposedly surrendering, suddenly accused the military of being behind their alleged abduction.

Such a script supposedly being played by communist rebels has also sparked fears that Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, the environmentalists who went missing in Bataan earlier this month, may be treading a dangerous path.

“The act is brazen with a plot that is new, quite deep (with the interplay of red and white area forces) and dangerous (to them if they fail). The brazen act is part of a sinister plot to embarrass and discredit the government and its good intentions,” AFP spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar said yesterday over dzMM Radyo630.

He issued the statement after learning how the parents of Tamano revealed in an interview that they too could not believe that their daughter changed her tune during the press briefing of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in Plaridel, Bulacan on Sept. 19.

The environmentalists were supposed to be presented as surrenderees who sought the military’s help. Instead they claimed they were abducted and interrogated by the military.

In the interview, Tamano’s stepfather Enrique Manalastas claimed that they believe their daughter’s original statement and that it is Castro, allegedly a self-confessed member of the NPA, who is pulling the strings or running the story.

He said he and his wife want their daughter home but also agree with the decision of the Commission on Human rights to take custody for the safety of all.

Asked what he thinks really happened, he said he was also surprised by proceedings at the NTF-ELCAC press conference because he and his wife were there when Tamano and Castro surrendered or were rescued by the military.

“Maybe this Jonila has been planning to embarrass the government for a very long time. We all know that she has been part of the armed groups and we do not know their propaganda. This also weighs heavy on us and we hope that our daughter will finally leave this group because it will not give her a good future,” he added.

Interestingly the step-father of Jhed Tamano said he believes her friend is a self-confessed NPA member and is pulling the strings to orchestrate this ultimate pwning of the government. 

Just remember that for the past few years the AFP has repeatedly said the NPA is irrelevant and unable to launch any attacks. Now we are to believe that these two ladies are part of an elaborate hoax to discredit the government and the armed forces. Does that make sense? 

The DOJ has said they will look into the matter to find the truth.

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said he would look into the supposed abduction of the activists, but at the same time took a swipe at the leftist movement.

“We will find out who is telling the truth, pero ang tingin ko naman, the government has nothing to gain by violating the law, I think that is very clear to all of us,” Remulla said in a press briefing in Plaridel, Bulacan.

Remulla said the two activists, who are students of the University of the Philippines, could have been subjected to “peer pressure” by leftist and political groups. 

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/19/23/surrendered-activists-say-they-were-abducted

It appears the DOJ Secretary has already decided the case. It is rather amazing he says "the government has nothing to gain by violating the law." Does he live in the Philippines? The government routinely violates the law. But as for this case we shall see. As it is this is the story so far.