News Feature by Abigail Romualdo | May 2, 2024
Image: Missing posters of (left) Dexter Capuyan and (right) Bazoo de Jesus pinned on a bulletin board of UP Baguio. (Abigail Romualdo)

It has been a year since Indigenous People’s (IP) rights activists Dexter Capuyan and Gene Roz Jamil “Bazoo” De Jesus disappeared.

On April 28, 2024, exactly a year after their enforced disappearance, the Napopoot at Nagmamahal: A Solidarity Night was held at the University of the Philippines Baguio’s (UPB) Teatro Amianan as a culminating activity of the 40th People’s Cordillera Day. Heavy raindrops poured, yet the calls to bring them back home were stronger - calls that are rooted from wrath and love.

Never Giving Up

Dexter and Bazoo were last seen in Taytay, Rizal, where witnesses saw them being dragged into vehicles by the state forces that were later identified as Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG). Since then, their families, friends, and colleagues had little to no updates on the case. The authorities, on the other hand, kept mum on the matter.

Despite all of these, the two IP rights defenders’ loved ones remain determined to find them, just like how Dexter and Bazoo were persistent in fighting for the masses.

“But there is no way we will give up searching for him, because I still hope he comes home to tell us what he wants to remind us that we will continue to fight for what is right,” Hydee De Jesus-Tiongco, Bazoo’s sister, reiterated.

The two IP activists are alumni of UPB. Bazoo was the chairperson of the Alliance of Concerned Students and UP Baguio Council of Leaders and graduated Cum Laude with a degree in BA Communication in 2016. Capuyan, on the other hand, was the editor-in-chief of UPB Outcrop in 1985.

Mothers’ prolonged agony

Before Dexter and Bazoo served the communities in the Cordilleras, they were sons first. If anyone were feeling the intense agony of losing them, it would be their mothers.

Dittz De Jesus, Bazoo’s mother, reminisced about the time when she and her husband, both activists in the 1980s, were in between fear and pride when their “Hadji” decided to become a full-time activist.

“Kaya hangga’t kaya ko noon na protektahan ang mga anak ko na huwag maging aktibista, hindi pala maaari. Dahil sila pala ang makakakita mismo na hanggang ngayon pala, ganun pa rin ang nangyayari, ganun pa rin ang ipinapaglaban namin noon hanggang ngayon,” she explained.

Family members accompanied Cynthia Capuyan, Dexter’s mother, to reach the stage of Teatro Amianan to deliver her message despite her age.

“I hope that Lord God will longer my number of years in this Earth so that someday, I will, I can see my son and hug him. That is my only prayer everyday, to see Dexter alive,” she said as she walked and talked to Dexter’s picture flashed on the screen. No one in the public probably understood what her whispers were, but maybe her son did.

Activism in Northern Luzon

Human rights defenders in Northern Luzon have been a continuous target of red-tagging, intimidation, trump charges, and enforced disappearances by state forces.

“Ang usaping ito, gaya ng mga nabanggit ko, ay sumasalamin din sa mga nangyayari sa Cordillera at sa iba pang bahagi ng Northern Luzon, kung saan maraming mga komunidad ang pinipilit na pinapaalis, maraming mga komunidad ang mga nagigiging biktima, mula noon hanggang ngayon, ng sinasabi nilang pag-unlad ng development,” Atty. Karlos Zarate, Bayan Muna Executive Vice President explained.

According to an October 2023 Bulatlat report, Capuyan, before their enforced disappearance, was labeled as a New People’s Army (NPA) leader, while the authorities offered a hefty sum of more than P2 million for his arrest. The same report detailed that Bazoo faced pending cases in Ifugao and other places in Northern Luzon.

“Kung napopoot man tayo, hanggang ngayon, samahan ito ng pagmamahal. Dahil ‘yang poot ang mas magpapatibay sa atin na labanan ang kabuktutan sa lipunan, at iyang pagmamahal ang magiging buhay sa ating mga pangarap na mamuhay sa isang lipunang husto, malaya, mapayapa, at makatarungan.” Dittz De Jesus concluded.

It has been a year since Dexter and Bazoo disappeared into the hands of the state, yet the clamor of the communities will never be unheard, not especially with the people’s wrath and love.