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Tag: AFAD

Filipina wins Mignone International Human Rights Award

Published by Ellen on November 3, 2013


By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files

Aileen Bacalso
Aileen Bacalso
Human rights activist Mary Aileen D. Bacalso, secretary-general of the Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) is this year’s awardee of the Emilio Mignone International Human Rights Prize.

Bacalso said she was informed Thursday by the embassy of Argentina in the Philippines of the award “in recognition of her work against enforced disappearance in Asia and the world. “

Bacalso will travel to Buenos Aires on Dec. 10 to receive her award in a ceremony to be attended by Argentinian government officials. Aside from her funded travel to Argentina and a plaque, Aileen will also have speaking engagements in different organizations.

Bacalso said “I will be honored to receive this prestigious award soon which will be given not only to me but also to the disappeared and their loved ones and the rest among us in this bigger global movement against enforced disappearances. Let this be an important victory for the cause of the disappeared and their families in the Philippines, in Asia, in Latin America and in the rest of the world.”

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5 years of search, 5 years of hope

Published by Ellen on April 26, 2012

Edith Burgos: today's Mater Dolorosa
On April 28, 2007, past noon, Jonas Burgos was at Ever Gotesco Mall in Quezon City waiting for friends. Before his friends came three military agents, one was a woman, approached him and forcibly brought him out to a waiting vehicle. Jonas was never seen after that.

Jonas’ mother, Edita, wife of press freedom fighter Jose Burgos, Jr. (founder of Malaya) issued the following statement yesterday:

“April 28, 2012 marks the fifth year of the disappearance of my son, Jonas Burgos. Jonas’ family commemorates this day by looking back at the five years of search. We recall how we have exhausted every possible peaceful means available to us within the limitations of resources and information.

“We have encountered numerous attempts at individual and institutional cover up and confronted these with more determination to uncover the truth. The denials, the stone-walling, the labeling, all the lies and even the indifference have only encouraged us to pray some more and to look at others with the eyes of a Christian heart. Undeterred, our search must go on.

“At every turn of the uphill path of the search, something and someone would somehow turn out to be His Providence supplying what was needed for the moment. The particular grace would always be on time… just enough, and would, in spite of the pain and seeming helplessness… fuel a renewed vigor to search for the lost son, the lost brother, the lost husband, the lost father.

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