20 years on, the monsters remain

20 years on, the monsters remain

The 20th year of the disappearance of Karen and Sherlyn is not just about them or about their families. It is an indictment of our democracy. It is proof that butchers and human rights violators are being rewarded and that impunity persists. On June 26, 2006, UP students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan were abducted by soldiers under the command of then Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr in Hagonoy, Bulacan. To this day, the two remain missing.  The …

What have twenty years since Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan's disappearance left us?

They were two of my peers at the University, only a few years removed from our days haunting the halls of Vinzons, went missing while organizing landless farmers in Hagonoy, Bulacan, exactly twenty years ago today. Many clues, a few witnesses, and countless visits to cemeteries, military camps, and police stations later, we learned a few details: they were abducted by Colonel (later General) Jovito Palparan’s soldiers, taken to secret locations …