Relatives search for missing NDF consultant

12/26/2006 11:36:00 PM

esar Batralo, a consultant for the leftist National Democratic Front, did not make it to his family’s Christmas reunion in San Pablo City, just south of Manila. The human rights group Karapatan believe he could be the 94th victim of “forced disappearance” this year and the 207th since 2001.

Doris Cuario, secretary general of Karapatan in the Southern Tagalog area, said Batralo is also the fifth NDF consultant to be reported missing this year, added Cuario. His relatives believe he was illegally taken by military or police forces, if not the latest victim in the spate of political killings in the Philippines. Read more from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

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    Democracy, according to the late Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, is "a question of human dignity, [a]nd human dignity is political freedom, the right to freely express opinion and the right to be allowed to criticise and form opinions."

    But exercising political freedom in the Philippines, which purports itself to be a democracy, can lead to death. Since Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency of the country in 2001, more than 800 Filipinos murdered in politically-motivated, extra-judicial, targeted killings. Since the 4th quarter of July 2005, one person has been killed every two days. The victims of these brazen acts of violence were all unarmed citizens: lawyers, judges, journalists, medical practitioners, members of cause-oriented groups, priests, church-workers, human rights advocates, laborers and farmers.

    It is widely believed—and the United Nations support this belief—that state security forces are complicit in these crimes.