Pauline Joy Banjawan, a volunteer campaign coordinator for party-list Bayan Muna in Southern Tagalog and an organizer for the urban poor rights group Kadamay Southern Tagalog, was reported missing on April 26, 2025, after she reported being followed by suspicious individuals in the town of Sto. Tomas in Batangas province.
Banjawan last messaged her mother at 3:00 p.m. that day, claiming that “suspicious people” were tailing her. She was in Sto. Tomas as part of Bayan Muna’s campaign activities for the 2025 midterm elections.
According to the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Banjawan was allegedly abducted by members of the 59th Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines before being turned over to the police after two days. She now faces charges of alleged illegal possession of firearms and explosives and was reportedly subjected to physical and psychological torture.
Banjawan’s arrest was baseless and part of the current regime’s “ongoing militarization designed to suppress genuine opposition ahead of the May elections,” said Rev. Luisito Saliendra, spokesperson of the human rights group Karapatan Southern-Tagalog .
Banjawan’s younger sister, Fatima, a women’s rights organizer under Gabriela Southern Tagalog, was also arrested by elements of the military on trumped-up charges while investigating the conditions of peasant communities in Camarines Sur in August 2024. Garbiela Southern Tagalog has condemned her arrest and cited its similarities with other incidents.
The human rights group Karapatan is alarmed at the fact that enforced disappearances are among the fastest rising human rights violations under the Marcos Jr. regime.
Under Marcos Jr., the AMP (Aktionsbündnis Menschenrechte-Philippinen/German Action Network Human Rights-Philippines) – recorded 12 cases of enforced disappearances of human rights defenders between 2023 and 2024, of which five individuals remain missing until today. For victims and their families, obtaining justice is an uphill battle.
Meanwhile, relatives and friends of the activists Gene Bazoo de Jesus and Dexter Capuyan commemorated the second year of their enforced disappearance as they celebrated Cordillera Day last April. Dexter’s daughter Chuwaley recalled that on April 28, 2023, her father and Bazoo were abducted in Taytay, Rizal. The search continues, she said, now with a writ of amparo filed at the Court of Appeals.
Photo © Raffy Lerma