The Defend NGOs Alliance welcomes the Supreme Court’s recent issuance of temporary protection order for the family of James Jazmines, the disappeared activist in Albay.

James Jazmines, a 63-year-old labor activist and brother of NDFP consultant Alan Jazmines, was abducted from Brgy. San Lorenzo, Tabaco City, in the evening of 23 August 2024, shortly after celebrating Felix Salaveria Jr.’s birthday with him. Five days later, on 28 August 2024, Felix—a 66-year-old environmental and indigenous-peoples advocate—was forcibly taken in broad daylight in Brgy. Cobo, Tabaco City, as captured by CCTV showing men in plain clothes pushing him into a silver van with motorcycle escorts. Both disappearances, widely regarded as coordinated and professional executed operations suggestive of state involvement, prompted immediate response actions from Karapatan and other civil society organizations.

In the late February and early March 2025, during a Court of Appeals hearing on the Salaveria daughters’ petition for writs of amparo and habeas data, attorneys from the Office of the Solicitor General attempted to sow doubt—questioning his identity based on questionable IDs and alleged inconsistencies in his birth certificate—despite CCTV footage clearly capturing his abduction five months earlier. Karapatan criticized this as a tactical delay, highlighting that no government investigative agency has yet contacted the family regarding probe progress and accusing authorities of playing a “waiting game” to let the issue fade. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court’s protective writs remain pending enforcement by the Court of Appeals, with the family and their lawyers continuing to press for compliance and accountability.

While legal remedies cannot undo the damage caused by a system that breeds impunity, they provide some level of protection and security for human rights defenders vilified and attacked for their pro-people advocacies.

The Defend NGOs stands with the families of the disappeared, the red-tagged, and the vilified. We demand accountability. We demand protection—not persecution—for those who defend life, land, and rights.

We call on the Philippine Government to fulfill its human rights commitments and obligations. The government should ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and fully uphold its human rights obligations to the Filipino people.