“As we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, I couldn’t think of a better way that the Philippine government could show its value, its worth, than adopting and implementing this act. It definitely would show commitment to the work of human rights defenders.”
Exactly a month after her husband was abducted, Johanna Abua asked the Court of Appeals to demand army officials to produce the body of Steve Abua who went missing on November 6, 2021. He was last seen in the village of Sta. Cruz which is part of the central business district of the municipality of Lubao in the province of Pampanga, some 90 kilometers from Manila.
“I wish the vice president would find time to sit with me and discuss what happened to my husband. As a woman like me, I believe she would understand my plight.”
“Time is of the essence. Everyday that he is missing endangers his life. Every victim of politically motivated enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killing, including plain murder, should have been a political prisoner.”
Fifteen years after two UP alumni were disappeared by the military, another one goes missing, again in Central Luzon.