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    Stop Enforced Disappearances! April 19 – Commemorating the 51st Birthday of James Balao, Desaparecido


    Missing the Disappeared
    If by chance you were there when it happened
    I wish you did not shut your eyes as you would when lightning strikes
    I would want you to remember how he looked
    How he reached out in silent horror for you to
    Memorize details of the moment
    Because he knew it would come to this
    Searching is a giant question mark
    That hooks the nerves and curses the dark and unknown
    It cannot be that he remains just a name
    With a fact sheet attached
    He  has to be somewhere breathing reaching
    For the chance to be with us again.

    – By Luchie Maranan

    On April 19, 2012, James Balao will turn 51 years old.  It has been 1312 days since he became a victim of enforced disappearance.

    James Balao, a founding member of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, was abducted by State security forces on the morning of September 17, 2008 in Tomay, La Trinidad, Benguet.  He is among the 205 victims of enforced disappearance from 2001- June 2010 with the implementation of  Operation Plan Bantay Laya (Operation Plan Freedomwatch) of the Philippine government  under former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

    His family, friends, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance and his colleagues continue to search for him. More than 9000 postcards  and letters to President Benigno Aquino III have been sent to call his attention to the case and the issue of enforced disappearances in the country.

    Tomorrow, April 19, the Balao family, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance and the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance, James’ friends and colleagues will gather at 5:30 in the afternoon at the Baguio Cathedral grounds.   51 candles for James will be lit to call on the government to surface James and stop enforced disappearances in the country.

    We enjoin groups who have been part of the campaign to urge the Philippine government to surface James Balao to hold solidarity actions within the month of April to commemorate his birthday and to remind the Philippine government of its human rights obligations and accountability.

    SURFACE JAMES BALAO!
    STOP ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES!
    END IMPUNITY!

    cordillera human rights alliance
    55 ferguson road,baguio city, philippines
    telefax: +63. 74. 443. 7159
    telephone:  +63 74 304 4239
    cp:  +63 918 919 9007
    email: [email protected]

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