Today, International Day of the Disappeared, the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) calls for the immediate surfacing and release of James Jazmines, brother of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Alan Jazmines, who was last since in Tabaco, Albay and has been missing since August 23.

James Jazmines served as information officer of national labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement) or KMU in 1988-1992, as well as executive director of the Amado V. Hernandez Resource Center or AVHRC, a cultural institution that served workers and other marginalized sectors of society.

The younger Jazmines is a graduate of the Philippine Science High School and a former psychology student of the University of the Philippines. He became a student activist under the League of Filipino Students or LFS and served as editor of Commitment, the organization’s official publication.

James Jazmines worked as Information Technology officer of a development NGO until the mid-2000s and has worked as a freelancer in the IT sector since. His disappearance was preceded by surveillance, threats and harassments of the Jazmines family, as well as the red-tagging of his wife.

Human rights organization Karapatan states that James’ disappearance may be part of the military’s efforts to force his brother Alan to surface or is considered by the military as replacement for the NDFP consultant. For many years now, the military has been actively arresting, abducting and killing NDFP consultants.

Cases of enforced disappearance have been increasing under the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. According to Karapatan, 13 desaperacidos were abducted under the Marcos Jr regime, not counting six who have been surfaced. In the labor sector, Mindanao organizer William Lariosa was abducted in April 2024 while Metro Manila organizer Loi Magbanua was abducted in May 2022.

We are calling for the surfacing of James Jazmines, Lariosa, Magbanua and all the 13 disappeared activists under the Marcos Jr regime. We are again calling on Marcos Jr to walk the talk of his promises of upholding human rights and to take decisive action to stop enforced disappearances under his term.

Abduction, extra-judicial killings and other grave human rights violations have routinely been committed against NDFP consultants who often were unarmed, belong to the elderly, and were seeking medical attention. We are calling for a stop to these violations and the junking of the terrorist designation of underground rebel groups belonging to the NDFP, which has been used as a justification for these rights violations.###