Unity Statement: Youth And Students Demand The Immediate Release Of Sherlyn Cadapan And Karen Empeno

WE, YOUTH AND STUDENTS from different colleges, universities, organizations, communities and individuals, demand for the immediate release of our fellow students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño.

On June 26, bonnet-wearing armed men, suspected as elements of the 7th Infantry Division, forcibly entered a house of local folk in Hagonoy, Bulacan and took Sherlyn and Karen, together with a companion. Sherlyn, who is reportedly pregnant, was hit in the stomach as she was shouting for help. Meanwhile, the armed men removed Karen's shirt and used it to cover her face. They dragged the two women outside and took them away in a vehicle.

Until now, Sherlyn and Karen have not yet surfaced. While the military denied their involvement in their forced disappearance, Major Gen. Jovito Palparan, head of the 7 th ID, immediately accused them as members of the New People's Army. He insultingly added that the people of Bulacan are happy they disappeared because they are rebels.

Sherlyn and Karen are simple yet multi-talented students who went to Bulacan to conduct research on the peasant situation in the province. They are also known student leaders before they decided to learn more outside the four walls of the classroom in the University.

Sherlyn is an award-winning triathlete and a former College of Human Kinetics representative to the UP Diliman Student Council. Karen, on the other hand, is a Sociology major who is also an active member of UP Praxis and UP Zambaleños. Both are members of Anakbayan and League of Filipino Students, consecutively.

Karen and Sherlyn are the latest youth victims of the Arroyo government's hysteria, violence and policy of state terror. In its desperation to remain in power, the government has unleashed a wave of terror to eliminate and persecute its "enemies." Arroyo's dictator-like rule has claimed 692 victims of extrajudicial killings, 179 forced disappearances and hundres of other human rights violations, the worst after the dark days of Martial Law.

Oplan Bantay Laya, Arroyo's counter-insurgency program, blatantly makes no distinction between the armed revolutionary movement and the legal democratic organizations, making them all vulnerable to human rights violations.

We hereby demand that Sherlyn, Karen and all the missing immediately be resurfaced, and the abductors release them unharmed. We strongly call for an end to the extrajudicial killings by the military's "death squads." No amount of denial shall convince us that it is not the military, Palparan, and Arroyo, their commander-in-chief, are the ones liable for this mad killing spree and terror.

We condemn and hold no less than the Arroyo government and the military for the numerous human rights violations. We cry for an end to this bloodshed. We immediately call for an end to the Arroyo government.