MANILA — Rights group Karapatan and other groups confirm that environmental activists Eco Dangla and Jak Tiong are “no longer in the hands of their abductors, bruised but alive.”

The two were mauled and forced into a van by armed men on March 24 in Barangay Polo, San Carlos, Pangasinan.

Karapatan and other progressive groups searched for the two activists for three days.

“While they are still reeling from their harrowing ordeal, we hope that in due time, Eco & Jak will be able to fully recount the details of their abduction and subsequent release. Their captors should desist from making any attempts to further harass them,” the joint statement read.

The groups said the perpetrators should be held accountable.

“We are one with them in their demand for justice,” they said.