By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
August 29, 2024
MANILA – Human rights group Karapatan expressed grave concern over the reported disappearance of James Jazmines, brother of National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultant Alan Jazmines.
It has been six days since James was reportedly seen last August 23 in Purok 4, Barangay San Lorenzo, Tabaco City, Albay. Karapatan said that his wife, friends and human rights groups have been searching for James as of this writing.
“We believe that James’ disappearance is either the latest in the military’s arsenal of dirty tricks to force his brother Alan to surface… given the military’s continuing failure to arrest Alan,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay in a statement.
Palabay said that members of the Jazmines family, including James, have suffered surveillance, threats and harassment over the decades because of the military’s relentless operations to locate Alan and arrest him.
“In fact, James’ wife, a development worker, was red-tagged several times last year and was even erroneously referred to as Alan’s wife in an episode of ‘Laban ng Masa,’ a rabid red-tagging program aired over the Quiboloy-owned SMNI,” Palabay added.
James, 63, is the youngest brother of Alan. He is a graduate of the Philippine Science High School and took up BS Psychology at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. He was the editor of Commitment, then official paper of the League of Filipino Students (LFS) and later became the executive director of the Amado V. Hernandez Resource Center, a cultural institution.
From 1988 to 1992, James served as the information officer of labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU). He was the information technology consultant of a non-government development organization up to the mid-2000s, and has been working freelance in the IT sector since then.
Karapatan demands that James be surfaced and reunited with his family.
“We denounce this foul maneuver by the military and demand that James be surfaced safe and sound and reunited with his family,” Palabay said.
Jame’s brother, Alan, was one of the NDFP peace consultants released to participate in the peace talks with the Philippine government in 2016 under former President Duterte. After a year, Duterte unilaterally terminated the peace talks and ordered the arrest of peace consultants. (RTS, RVO) (https://www.bulatlat.com)