Like Father, Like Son
Marcos Jr. intensifies martial law tactics with surge in political arrests, disappearances
by The News Team
As President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. closed his second year in office, the country recorded 12 cases of enforced disappearances, with four more cases reported in recent months, raising the overall count to 16 and placing the country among the highest in Asia. The number of political prisoners also spiked to 49 — following a pattern from his father’s bloody regime.
Rise in disappearances
Andy Magno, a University of the Philippines Manila alumnus, is the latest victim of enforced disappearances following her abduction in San Pablo, Isabela last Sept. 11 from alleged state agents. Her companion, Vladimir Maro, is now in Philippine National Police custody, facing attempted murder and Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL) charges. Magno’s whereabouts, however, remain unknown.
Adding to the recent number of cases are two Bicol-based activists James Jazmines and Felix Salaveria Jr. who went missing on Aug. 23 and 28, respectively. In Southern Tagalog, Rowena Dasig, an environmental advocate, is yet to surface right after her release last Aug. 22.
Labor leaders and union organizers also bear the brunt of the state’s stifling of dissent. William Lariosa, a 63-year-old labor and union organizer of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), was last seen in Quezon, Bukidnon in April 2024 and has since not been found.
Other sectors are not spared as Anakpawis, representing workers and the urban poor, recorded two enforced disappearances, while Gabriela Women’s Party and Katribu, an indigenous people’s rights organization, each reported one.
Surfaced at what cost?
Victims who resurfaced remain deprived of justice, as seen in the case of environmental defenders Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro who were captured by the military on Sept. 2 of last year. Their case gained prominence when they revealed their abduction at a press conference intended to present them as rebel surrenderees.
Relatedly, Eco Dangla III and Jak Tiong were abducted last March in Pangasinan and were surfaced with bruises after three days.
To protect the victims, writs like amparo and habeas data are often filed before the Supreme Court (SC) but are frequently dismissed on technicalities. Tamano and Castro were given these writs in February, only for the Court of Appeals to dismiss them in August, nullifying the earlier relief. Dangla, who filed the same writs five months after his abduction, is still awaiting the High Court’s decision.
Holding progressives captive
Political prisoners remain embattled inside detention centers over trumped-up charges. As of June, Karapatan has reported 755 cases of political prisoners since Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship with 103 of these cases occurring during his son’s administration.
Among them is Frenchie Mae Cumpio, a community journalist imprisoned in Eastern Visayas on fabricated charges of illegal firearms possession and terrorism financing. Cumpio’s legal counsel bared the harsh conditions detainees like Cumpio face who suffer from restricted visitation rights.
Other political prisoners also experience maltreatment despite being sick at the time of their incarceration. Such is the case of Ernesto Jude Rimando who recently succumbed to liver cancer at the Philippine General Hospital. He was never given temporary freedom amid his deteriorating health.
Rimando was just one of 90 political prisoners who were ill before their arrest, with their condition worsening in detention and denied of urgent medical care.
A state weaponizing red-tagging
The current human rights scene is exacerbated by the state’s use of red-tagging to label critics as terrorists, justify crackdowns, and create agencies designed to reshape law and order to its advantage.
Red-tagging has long been the state’s tactic to paralyze the dissent of progressives as early as the 1960’s. Despite an SC ruling declaring red-tagging as a threat to life, liberty or security, progressives continue to face harassment.
The establishment of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) under Duterte in 2018 intensified these crackdowns, often targeting activists and critics in the guise of maintaining order.
Marcos Jr. has continued this practice, appointing Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Salamat as NTF-ELCAC’s head in 2023. This expansion resulted in a rise of enforced disappearances and political arrests, sending a chilling effect to progressives.
Similarly, the signing of ATL in 2020 was no different.
Presented as a defense against terrorism, the law is used by the government to target perceived “enemies of the state.” Its vague provisions allow warrantless detention for up to 24 days, with progressive groups warning that the broad definition of “terrorism” makes people vulnerable to abuse, leading to increased political arrests and disappearances under the guise of counterterrorism.
President of the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances Mary Aileen Bacalso criticized how the government rejected signing the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) as the administration feared the loss of sovereignty to international courts.
As state-sponsored attacks intensify, human rights groups call for the immediate repeal of ATL and to hold perpetrators accountable in the country’s long list of enforced disappearances. Until these remain unachieved, the pattern of repression will only deepen, leaving more victims in its wake.
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with reports from Liandrei Crisostomo, Lian Gabrielle Inlong, and Casandra Peñaverde
