CHR steps into case of missing CAR activist

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has started its own investigation into the disappearance of a Cordillera activist amid growing pressure on the government from both local and international organizations to immediately find him.

The CHR joined different groups in condemning the disappearance of James Balao, 47, a founding member of the Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) based in Baguio City.

In a resolution last Friday, the CHR pledged to investigate and monitor developments on the case of Balao, who it considers a victim of enforced disappearance. 

Balao’s family and colleagues at CPA believe that military men were behind his disappearance in Benguet last Sept. 17.

“Based on the initial information we have gathered, James Balao and his family have been under regular surveillance by unidentified persons since the first week of June 2008, and (Balao) is allegedly listed in the dossier of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as the head of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Education Bureau in the Ilocos and Cordillera regions,” De Lima said.

“The CHR, pursuant to its constitutional mandate to investigate all forms of human rights violations, involving civil and political rights… will continue our investigation and monitoring of this case, as we also strongly condemn the enforced disappearance of James Balao,” she added.

In the same resolution, the CHR asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) to assist it in the investigation, and the AFP to help locate Balao.

The CHR said it would hold a dialogue with top PNP and AFP officials to discuss Balao’s case and the disappearance of other people alleged to be CPP members.

On the morning of Sept. 17, Balao left Baguio City to go home to his family in La Trinidad, Benguet.

He reportedly informed his family through a text message about his homecoming that day. But he did not show up, and his family and friends have had no contact with him since then.

Balao, a descendant of a large Chinese-Japanese clan in Benguet, is the president of the Oclupan Clan Association. In 1984, he was among those who founded CPA, which advocates the protection and promotion of the rights to ancestral domain and self-determination, especially of indigenous communities.

The Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) has dismissed allegations that military men were behind Balao’s disappearance as “mere leftist propaganda.”

“If the court will direct us to open our camp, then we will comply,” said Maj. Gen. Melchor Dilodilo, commander of the Army’s 5th Infantry Division based in Gamu, Isabela that has jurisdiction over all military forces in northern Luzon.

For his part, Maj. Rosendo Armas, Nolcom spokesman, said, “We have nothing to hide because we do not have him.”

Balao’s kin and colleagues have asked the Benguet regional trial court to issue a writ of amparo.

The petition, the first in northern Luzon, will be heard on Oct. 16. – With Artemio Dumlao