On August 30, 2021, human rights group Karapatan Central Visayas confirmed Elena Tijamo’s death in a hospital in Metro Manila, far away from where she was abducted. The group found the circumstances around her death to be questionable.
News of Tijamo’s death, more than a year after her abduction and disappearance, coincided with the observance of International day of the victims of enforced disappearances.
Last year on June 13, suspected military elements—four armed masked men in civilian clothes accompanied by two women—broke into Tijamo’s home in Barangay Kampingganon in Bantayan Island, Cebu and held back family members while they covered Tijamo’s mouth with tape, tied her hands, and took her away. She was taken under curfew hours and lockdown and that impeded her family’s efforts to search for her. She has been missing ever since.
“On August 28 at 1:00pm, Lina was able to call her brother Carlos (who is in Manila) from VRP Medical Center in Mandaluyong City to say that she is alright and would soon be discharged. A few minutes after, a certain “Michael” called Carlos telling him to meet him outside of the hospital because Carlos would not be able to enter the hospital due to COVID-19 restrictions. Once at the hospital, “Michael” told Carlos that Lina had already died after a goiter operation. “Michael” gave Carlos the bill and told him it was already paid,” Karapatan Central Visayas said in their statement.
Tijamo’s body was then brought to St. Peter’s Funeral Homes without Carlos’ knowledge. Carlos discovered that Tijamo’s body would not be released to him because it was registered under a different name: Ava Perez Reyes.
Tijamo’s daughter Dawn was able to speak to the funeral parlor and found out that the person who brought Lina’s body to the funeral home was a certain “Neil Reyes,” who claimed to be Lina’s nephew.
The family told Karapatan Central Visayas that they do not know any “Michael” or “Neil Reyes”. These circumstances and those who brought Tijamo’s body to the funeral home unde suspected false names hinder the family from claiming the body. Karapatan Central Visayas is monitoring the retrieval of her remains.
“Karapatan-Central Visayas expresses indignation over another attempt of the state to withhold the body of a peasant rights advocate from her family as they previously did with Ka Randy Echanis and political prisoner Jesus Alegre,” said the group in its Facebook post.
Tijamo was the program coordinator for sustainable agriculture FARDEC, non-profit, non-government organization that offers paralegal and educational services to farmers facing land issues. She is also the Community Radio Coordinator of FARDEC in Bantayan Island, Cebu.
“She is known to be a very responsible development worker. She is also very effective. She would even stay in farming communities for as long as necessary. You need to be deeply immersed in this kind of work. You cannot give a three-day training and leave farmers on their own. So she stays with them for long periods of time,” former head of FARDEC Estrella Catarata said last August 20, 2020.
Following questionable circumstances surrounding her death and her body’s delivery to a funeral parlor, the family of Tijamo has yet to gain full custody of her remains so they can mourn her in their place of preference.
Red-tagging before abduction, death
Tijamo was repeatedly red-tagged before her abduction and death.
Less than a month before her abduction, Tijamo reported to a human rights group that a man claiming to conduct a survey for elderly beneficiaries of COVID-19 financial assistance visited her home. There were no questions regarding the assistance, and she asked about her personal details instead. She later found out that the barangay had no knowledge of a survey.
Tijamo’s neighbors’ relayed that police officers were asking around if Tijamo’s family is originally from Bantayan before her abduction.
FARDEC was listed by the Department of National Defense as a “communist terrorist front organization” along with other non-government organizations (NGOs) in a House panel briefing on November 5, 2019. Tijamo was also red-tagged by military agents in 2019.
Tijamo was not the first from the group to have been disappeared. Another FARDEC staff member, Fely Catalbas, was also forcibly taken in 2007. She has not been seen since then.
Two of its board members, Victor Olaybar and Mario Auxillo, were summarily executed in 2006 and 2007 respectively, said ASCENT in a post.
Tijamo’s abduction took place while the much-protested “Anti-Terrorism Bill” in the Philippines was in the process of becoming law. Her disappearance was decried by human rights group Karapatan as an example of the dangers of red-tagging and counterinsurgency-centered policies amid the pandemic in the Philippines.
Cry for justice
After a year of abduction until the news of Tijamo’s death, there was no clue as to who her abductors were and what are their motives. What is known to her family, they were armed and able to move around the province while strict quarantine or lockdown protocols were in place, much like the killing of Echanis that happened under curfew hours and lockdown.
“We further express grief and sympathy for the family who has spent over a year worrying for Lina’s welfare following her abduction only to find out that she has died in a hospital without them knowing that she was even brought there,” said Karapatan Central Visayas.
According to Karapatan, there are 18 cases of enforced disappearance since President Rodrigo Duterte sat on the presidency.
