FilAm activist still shows signs of trauma

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) The plane carrying Melissa Roxas and her companions from the United Methodist Church has landed late Monday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and the passengers have all disembarked, but the Filipino-American was still nowhere in sight.

Anxious about not seeing her immediately, the group of congressmen led by Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tanada III and Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairman Leila De Lima scoured the terminal in search of Roxas.

Tanada and Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino searched in the Duty Free area while De Lima and party-list Reps. Rafael Mariano, Satur Ocampo, and Liza Maza waited at the immigration area.

Outside the airport, Gabriela party list Rep. Luz Ilagan, Edith Burgos, mother of the missing activist Jonas, and others patiently waited for Roxas's arrival.

By around 11 p.m., some 40 minutes after the Northwest Airlines flight carrying Roxas and her group from Los Angeles, Tanada said he finally saw her.

"I approached her, she said she was relieved to see me. She then proceeded to meet Chairman De Lima and the others," Tanada said, describing Roxas as "fragile" when he saw her.

The fear and trauma of Roxas's abduction and torture purportedly in the hands of the military are very much alive two months after the incident, and she has returned to relive them and hopefully find justice.

Addressing the media at the NAIA VIP lounge, Roxas said, "I’m doing this not for myself but for all the victims (of human rights violations). I believe that all the abuses have to stop."

Roxas and two companions, Juanito Carabeo and Edward Jandoc, were abducted while conducting a survey ahead of a medical mission in the sub-village of Bagong Sikat, Kapanikian village in La Paz, Tarlac on May 19.

Seven days later, Roxas surfaced and claimed she was tortured by her captors, who are allegedly members of the 7th Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Carabeo, who was reportedly released on May 26, and Jandoc, who has also surfaced, have remained silent because of fear and trauma.

Roxas has filed a petition for the writ of amparo before the Philippine courts, a special legal instrument issued by the Supreme Court to protect people whose rights have been violated by government activities or acts of omission.

She returned to the country to appear on the hearing on her petition on July 30. She will also face the investigation of the CHR on July 23.

Roxas's case has given face to political abduction and torture in the country and the government should not deny this, Tanada told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview Tuesday.

Tanada, chairman of the human rights committee in the House of Representatives, said that with what happened to Roxas and her two companions, the government has no reason to refute that torture is happening in the country.

"The important thing here is for government not to deny that this is happening and it's still happening," Tanada said.

"We know of people who have been highlighted like Melissa Roxas and the Manalo brothers, and there are others in the province who have survived torture but are nameless and faceless," he said.

Tanada said he welcomed the statement of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita that the government was wiling to look into the matter, a complete turnaround from the previous statement of the Presidential Commission on Human Rights that it did not happen.

But he said much more needs to be done to give justice to the likes of Roxas, Carabeo, and Jandoc.

Tanada pressed anew for the immediate passage of anti-torture bill and the bill on enforced disappearance pending before both chambers of Congress.

The congressman said Roxas's courage—as shown with her return to the country, and her willingness to recall what happened to her and to seek justice not just for her but for the other victims of torture—must be recognized.