“He was always there when they needed him,” she told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview. She was 29 when she last saw her husband, then 34, in Sucat, Parañaque City.
Now 54, Erlinda has been visiting Bantayog ng mga Desaparecido at Redemptorist Church in Baclaran, Parañaque, since the memorial was erected in 1994. Tomorrow (Thursday), she will be visiting with her three children and five grandchildren, and over 60 other families.
“The families come here every year because they have no tomb to visit on All Souls’ Day,” said Wilma Tizon, deputy secretary general of the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance Inc. (FIND), an organization of families, friends and colleagues of the disappeared, as well as surfaced “desaparecidos” (disappeared).
FIND has documented 1,838 cases of disappearances since 1971. Nearly half of the cases (878) happened during the martial law regime of President Ferdinand Marcos. “Every All Souls’ Day, we make it a point to visit the memorial to remember our loved ones,” Erlinda said.
She remembers Jimmy as a man for others. “Before he disappeared, every time somebody called on him for help, that person becomes his priority.” “He’s been gone for a long time, but the pain is still there,” she said.
For families and friends of the disappeared, the Bantayog stands as common ground for remembrance. The memorial lists the names of Jimmy Malicdem and hundreds of other missing people etched in granite panels.
Unveiled in September 2004 in time for the 23rd anniversary of martial law, the memorial is the refurbished “Flame of Courage Monument,” which was originally unveiled by FIND on July 13, 1994, the ninth anniversary of the disappearance of Redemptorist priest Rudy Romano.
Romano, a well-known human rights activist, was abducted in Cebu in 1985, allegedly by military agents. To this day, he has not been found.
Designed and created by sculptor Lito Mondejar, the Flame of Courage features a mother carrying a torch, which symbolizes the courage of those left behind and continuing the struggle for justice.
A child holding the picture of his father represents hope that one day, the families will be reunited with their missing loved ones, according to FIND.
Tomorrow’s (Thursday) program will carry the theme “Paggunita at Pagdiriwang sa Buhay at Pakikibaka ng mga Desaparecidos” (Remembering and celebrating the lives and struggles of the Desaparecidos).
A thanksgiving ceremony will also be held for the passage of the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Bill earlier this month. “We will also again call for President Benigno Aquino III to sign the bill immediately,” Tizon said.
“Now that Congress has approved the bill and it is now in President Aquino’s hands, we hope he will sign it soon,” Erlinda said.
“We don’t want more disappearances. We don’t want more families experiencing the pain that these enforced disappearances cause,” she added.
The first in Asia to criminalize enforced disappearances, the bill was approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives on Oct. 16, It is now pending approval by the President.
The bill defines enforced or involuntary disappearance as “the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty committed by agents of the state or by persons or groups of persons acting with authorization or support from the state, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared.”
The maximum penalty for offenders is life imprisonment, or equivalent to 20 years and one day to 40 years in prison. Victims of enforced disappearance and their kin will also be entitled to compensation, restitution and rehabilitation.
The crime has no prescription period, unless the victim has surfaced. This means that the perpetrators can still be prosecuted regardless of how long the time of disappearance has passed.
“Every year, the families pray for justice to be served, and for their loved ones to be eventually found,” Tizon said.
Simultaneous rites will be held in FIND chapters in provinces in Central Luzon and Bicol, Cebu, Leyte, Negros, Panay, Northern Mindanao, Southern Mindanao and Western Mindanao.
Source: Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND), “Beyond Disappearance: Chronicles of Courage”
Friday 2 November 2012
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/299438/families-remember-missing-loved-ones
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