After almost five months of searching for my uncle, another activist, Jonas Burgos, was (allegedly) abducted by the military. Jonas is the 16^th victim of abduction for this year.  When he was forcibly taken by 3 armed men and 1 armed woman while he was having coffee in a restaurant, he shouted these words, "Aktibista lang ako!" (I'm just an activist!)

 

Yesterday, May 10, we met with the family of Jonas with the Former President Cory Aquino at her house to ask for her support. She promised to support all the desaparecidos since she’d experienced the same feeling of losing someone she loved. She also advised the families to remain steadfast and continue asking for justice. She said, “if you show them you are weak, they will have more opportunity to oppress you.”

 

After the meeting with the former president, we went to GMA7, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the country. The families—Burgos, my family, and other families—were given 30 minutes airtime in the morning and 1 hour airtime in the afternoon. One of the anchors, an actress and mother, who also lost a son, made her assurance that she would not let the issue of abduction and political/ extra-judicial killings die.

 

We also visited another famous figure, the wife of Former Senate President and current Senator Aquilino Pimintel, Mrs. Lourdes Pimintel who said that she would print a “chain of prayer” with the names of the abducted and distribute it to her neighbours and ask them to pray and reprint so that more people will be aware of the human rights violations in this country.

 

We are scheduled to go, meet and ask for support from other famous female personalities and matriarchs to help us with our fight to uphold the human rights. Our idea is to make our voice heard through a humanitarian (womanitarian) approach that is to get the people’s attention (and Pres. GMA’s) through a mother, a sister, or a daughter’s point of view.

 

On May 19, 2007, we will have a human rights gathering at the Quezon City Memorial Circle. All victims of human rights violation and their families during the GMA administration are expected to come, all other victims of human rights violations since the time of Former President Marcos are also encouraged to participate, and people who believe in human rights are welcome to join us.