“Surfacing,” a photographers’ initiative led by the Free Jonas Burgos Movement and the Desaparecidos, shows the lives and struggles of thirteen families of the disappeared.

Some of them were activists wanting to change society by arousing and organizing the masses. Others were ordinary folk who went about their daily lives. Suddenly they were gone. We call them desaparecidos.

A Spanish word that means “the disappeared,” desaparecidos was coined in Latin America where thousand became victims of enforced disappearance implemented by tyrannical regimes.

Enforced disappearance is committed by government officials or by organized groups acting in behalf, or with the support, consent or acquiescence of the government, according to the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearance.

It is among the most common human rights violations committed in the Philippines, often by suspected military agents in the name of counterinsurgency.

Under the regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, there have been 184 desaparecidos, the highest since martial law.

“Surfacing” will be shown at the Robinsons Galleria Cinema lobby (December 5 to 11), MRT North Edsa through Larawanology (December 9), Plaza Miranda (December 10), and the UP Film Center (December 11).

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Photo credit: Projekt Desap