Ang mga Nawawala.. nang dahil sa 'yo

Ang Mamatay Nang Dahil Sa 'Yo, published by Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation, Inc. now has two volumes. The first volume I got as a gift from a very good friend and co-advocate in HIV and AIDS. The second volume I bought at one of the book fairs organized by the National Book Development Board. In the Introduction written by former executive director of the Foundation Nievelina V. Rosete: "This is a book about the heroes and martyrs of the Filipino people’s resistance against the martial law dictatorship that ruled over the country during the terrible years between 1972 and 1986. These were exemplary women and men who lived and died for the sake of freedom and justice in the Philippines."

The first volume featured 113, and the second 139 persons who have lived and died for freedom and justice. Among them were also the disappeared, the desaparecidos -- 16 in the first volume, and 13 in the second, all disappeared between 1976 and 1985:

Volume 1

• Emmanuel I. Alvarez, 06 January 1976
• Cristina F, Catalla, 31 July 1977
• Carlos B. Del Rosario, 19 March 1971
• Albert R. Enriquez, 29 August 1985
• Gerardo T. Faustino, 31 July 1977
• Luis Gabriel, 07 October 1985
• Rizalina P. Ilagan, 31 July 1977
• Ramon V. Jasul, sometime in July 1977
• Ma. Leticia J. Pascual-Ladlad, sometime in November 1975
• Hermon C. Lagman, 11 May 1977
• Rodelo Z. Manaog, 21 June 1984
• Manuel F. Ontong, 26 November 1975
• Florencio S. Pesquesa, 03 January 1979
• Rosaleo B. Romano, 11 July 1985
• Carlos N. Tayag, 17 August 1976
• Emmanuel R. Yap, 14 February 1976

Volume 2

• Roy Lorenzo H. Acebedo, sometime in August 1975
• Romeo G. Crismo, 12 August 1980
• Rolando M. Federis, sometime in October 1976
• Ceferino A. Flores, 28 January 1983
• Julieto N. Mahinay, 16 March 1984
• Alfredo L. Mendoza, sometime in September 1973
• Armando L. Mendoza, 17 October 1975
• Ronald Jan F. Quimpo, 29 October 1977
• Victor D. Reyes, 11 May 1977
• Jessica M. Sales, 31 July 1977
• Alex Torres, sometime in 1975
• Venerando Villacillo, 10 June 1985
• Rolan Y. Ybanez, 11 July 1985

Every 31 August, the world remembers victims of enforced disappearance with the observance of the International Day of the Disappeared. The United Nations General Assembly, in 1992, came out with the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and then in 2006, with the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. According to the online record of UN Treaties, the Philippines has not ratified the Convention.