On All Souls’ Day, families of enforced disappearances (desaparecidos) were urged to continue to fight for justice and carry on the causes their missing loved ones championed, even with no bodies or graves to visit.
The families, together with members from the groups Desaparecidos Philippines, Karapatan, and Hustisya, gathered at Claret School in Quezon City for a Mass and a program as they offered prayers and flowers for their missing kin.
‘If our relatives were here, we all know that they would not stay away from the struggle in the streets – to demand fair wages and to assert all the rights necessary for a decent life for the Filipino people,’ said Ofelia Balleta, secretary-general of Hustisya, a human rights organization.
She urged the families of desaperacidos to unite with other sectors, particularly workers struggling with low wages and rising daily expenses, as they continue to seek the return of their missing loved ones.
‘So let us prove that we, the relatives, are just like our loved ones whom they abducted,’ Balleta said.
‘We have love for our fellow human beings, which compels us to continue the work they left behind in the service of the people.’
According to Karapatan, more than 1,900 victims of enforced disappearance have been documented in the Philippines since the Ferdinand Marcos Sr. dictatorship.