When I was informed about the reported abduction of development workers and activists Dyan Gumanao and Armand Dayoha in Pier 6 in Cebu City, I was initially surprised.
Dyan is my client in a case at the Municipal Trial Court in Cities in Cebu City for alleged illegal assembly and simple disobedience filed against her and seven others by the police in June 2020. That case was in connection with the protest action against the anti-terror law held at the entrance gate of UP Cebu at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She was also my student in the Mass Communication program of UP Cebu. And although we rarely talk about politics and social issues that’s not related to our subject in the classroom, Dyan had always been known outside the four walls of the classroom as an activist for the poor and staunch defender of human rights.
That’s why it may not be totally unexpected if Dyan’s stance on social issues put her and her fellow development worker and fiancé Armand right in the crosshairs of State agents for taking part in protests against the government. In fact in June 22, 2021, Dyan filed a complaint at the Mabolo Police Station on alleged harassments and tailing done against her and her companions at a shopping mall by suspected State agents.
But on Friday last week, when Dyan and Armand were already reported missing by their family and colleagues after three days of being ‘incommunicado’, I was stunned to learn about the cause of their disappearance. That’s because there has never been a case of abduction of activists or staunch government critics in Metro Cebu post-EDSA or after the Marcos Sr. regime. Then I thought to myself that perhaps the impunity and intensified red-tagging under the Duterte regime by imprudent State elements made some in their ranks reckless and foolish, with such lawless predisposition spilling into the new administration.
In any case, we welcome Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla’s order for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the alleged abduction. The NBI and Commission on Human Rights are seen by the public as credible agencies of government who are capable of doing an impartial investigation into the incident of Dyan and Armand’s disappearance and later surfacing after six days.
We also welcome the order of Police Brigadier General Jerry Bearis, Director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas, for his officers to conduct a thorough investigation. But I hope that some officers under General Bearis will have some patience and understanding when activists point toward alleged ‘rogue’ elements in their ranks as possible suspects in the abduction. The abduction was caught on camera in broad daylight by a netizen on board the passenger vessel right in the port of Cebu City.
Thus, certain obvious questions must be answered. Who are those men who forcibly shoved Dyan and Armand into a waiting SUV parked in the middle of the port area just in front the of the passenger vessel? Why were those men and their vehicle allowed inside that place when in fact the port is supposed to be a heavily-secured and restricted area, more so with the upcoming Fiesta Señor activities that time? What made those men so brazen to do it in front of people and security personnel inside the port? These are just some of the obvious footprints waiting for serious investigators to follow.
As regards Dyan and Armand’s not being immediately available to the police for an interview, I agree with Karapatan’s Dennis Abarrientos who said that the two victims should not be blamed. They are reunited with their families and colleagues now, safe but shaken.
I met with both of them Wednesday evening but we only greeted each other and talked briefly. I did not linger to talk with them in detail about their ordeal because I can still sense the heavy toll of their exhaustion and trauma. They need psychological counselling and guidance. Their statement is essential but investigators can already start with some obvious footprints to follow.
For now, let me repeat what I said during the press conference last Monday and which was quoted by the news site Rappler: “Any person deserves to talk, walk, or raise his or her fist unmolested. That is the essence of democracy. That is the essence of justice. There can be no peace and progress without justice and justice applies to all.”