On September 2, 2023, the youth environmental activists Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano disappeared in Orion, Bataan, Philippines, while volunteering for communities along Manila Bay affected by development and reclamation activities. They surfaced on a press conference organized by government and military agencies intended to present them as rebels who had surrendered. The pair told the media that they were abducted by state forces, prompting the pair to be released following pressure from human rights groups, protesters, and Makabayan representatives.
History.
Jonila Castro, then 21, and Jhed Tamano, then 22, were the community organizers of Alliance for the Defense of Livelihood, Housing, and Environment in Manila Bay (Akap Ka Manila Bay) and the program coordinator of Community and Church Program for Manila Bay of the Ecumenical Bishops Forum. They volunteered along towns in Bataan, a province in Manila Bay, where communities had been affected by reclamation and development projects. Because of their advocacy, they experienced human rights violations such as red-tagging, intimidation, and harassment. On September 2, 2023, while doing investigative work and preparing for relief operations in Lati, Orion, the two were abducted by armed men wearing face masks and forced into a gray sports utility vehicle. Only a shoe and a slipper were left behind. The police then said that they were in a safe house and that they approached authorities.
On September 19, 2023, they surfaced in a press conference by National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and the local government of Plaridel, Bulacan. Instead of saying that they were rebel returnees, members of the New People's Army, they instead said they were abducted by government forces and were forced to present themselves as rebels who had surrendered. Pressure from human rights groups, protesters, and Makabayan Representatives led to their immediate release. On February 15, 2024, the Supreme Court of the Philippines granted two writs of "amparo" and "habeas data" as well as protection from the 70th Infantry Battalion of the AFP, members of the Philippine National Police Bataan, and NTF-ELCAC in response to a charge of slander and grave oral defamation. Despite these legal safeguards, the two subsequently claimed that they were still being tracked.