Missing
by Ellen Tordisillas
February 20, 2012

The fact that retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan has not been arrested two months after the Malolos Regional Trial Court issued a warrant of arrest for him for the 2006 disappearance of UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno and farmer Manuel Merino should have made us realize that there are forces in the government who have remained unenlightened despite President Aquino’s much-vaunted reform agenda.
There’s also the disappointing lack of action by the Aquino administration on the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance which has been signed by 92 countries , 31 of which have ratified the Convention.

The Aquino government also never replied to the annual requests by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances for official invitation to visit the country.

That’s why I’m worried about the three missing Muslim men – Najir Gumuntul Ahung,38;Rasdie Bisita Kasaran,21; and Yusup Cadlus Mohammad,21, all residents of Al-Barka,Basilan – who were last heard last Jan. 3, when one of them texted a brother, Jamih Arawi, Barangay Captain of Barangay Guinanta. Al-Barka, Basilan, of their arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport 1.

They came on board Air Philippines flight from Zamboanga city. They were scheduled to leave the next day for Khartoum, Somalia. They were going to Sudan to study Arabic language at the International University of Africa on scholarships.

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