VERA Files first photobook,”Silenced: Extrajudicial killings and torture in the Philippines,” is an example of the power of images and words combined.
Launched yesterday, the book is a collection of images of human rights victims as sensitively captured by the talented Mario Ignacio IV.
“The two young daughters of a women’s rights advocate try to live normal lives even as they attend the trial of their mother’s murder in Tagbilaran City almost every month. A Lumad family in Davao continues to bereave the death of their patriarch while seeking ways to hold on to their ancestral land. A wife in North Cotabato wrestles with the fact that her husband is a bus bombing suspect and a victim of torture,” Mario describes three of the 14 images in the book.