MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 15, 2013) – Beginning this week, the rights group Desaparecidos called on netizens to temporarily change their profile photo into a “protest photo” until August 30, the International Day of the Disappeared.
Lorena Santos, chairperson of Desaparecidos (Families of the Disappeared for Justice), urged netizens to download an image which lists the hundreds of victims of enforced disappearances, including 16 desaparecidos under the Aquino government and a call to stop enforced disappearances.
“Enforced disappearances in the country has not stopped to this day. They are nameless for most of us, but they are proof that the crime of enforced disappearance continue,” Santos said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
The 16 desaparecidos under Aquino come from marginalized sectors, like farmers and drivers, according to Santos.
“We call on everyone to support this simple act. As long as enforced disappearances continue, there can be no justice. As long as no one has been punished, like retired army Major General Jovito Palparan, we cannot remain silent,” Santos said.
Palparan, who remains in hiding, is one of the respondents in the case on the disappearance of University of the Philippines students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan.
On August 30, families, friends and progressive groups will come together in a gathering calling to stop enforced disappearances.
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