Editorial - Justice for desaparecidos

The rules and regulations implementing the law against enforced or involuntary disappearances were promulgated last week by concerned agencies. The rules for Republic Act 10353, signed into law late last year, will need further fine-tuning, according to officials. But authorities are hopeful that the landmark law will discourage enforced disappearances, which became widespread during martial law and did not end with the restoration of democracy in 1986.

The implementing rules will help victims’ families in their attempts to find the Philippines’ version of “desaparecidos” or the disappeared, and to seek restitution. Whether or not RA 10353 will actually discourage enforced disappearances remains to be seen.

In the cases recorded since 1986, the hardest part is establishing that state forces were involved in the disappearances. In several cases, relatives of missing persons have been hard pressed to even establish that their loved ones had joined the ranks of desaparecidos. Even when the courts wield special powers to compel state forces to produce missing persons, the whereabouts of the desaparecidos remain unknown.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines has consistently denied involvement in enforced disappearances and summary executions in its operations against insurgents and terrorists. Certain elements of the AFP are believed to be harboring fugitive Army general Jovito Palparan, who is wanted in connection with the kidnapping, torture and disappearance of two University of the Philippines coeds. Palparan, who became a party-list congressman following his retirement from the AFP, has denied the accusations and once commented that the two young women might have committed suicide.

The passage of RA 10353 is a significant step in the campaign against enforced disappearances. But the law will only be as good as its enforcement.