A 60-year old farmer organizer from Northern Mindanao is feared to have been abducted by suspected military agents on the late afternoon of April 27, on her way to a meeting in Misamis Oriental.

According to reports, Estelita T. Tacalang left the regional headquarters of Makabayan, a coalition of progressive party-list groups, in Cagayan de Oro City, at nine in the morning of April 27. She was set to meet up with colleagues to plan for upcoming activities on Labor Day and the national elections.

However, at around six in the evening of the same day, Tacalang was still nowhere to be found. Her mobile number could also no longer be reached. She remains missing as of press time.

Tacalan, or Nanay Neneng, is a member of peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and Anakpawis Party-list.

She has been active in campaigning for genuine land reform, social justice, and human rights. She protested against despotic landlords, lobbied peasant concerns in government offices, and supported campaigns against harassment by state sponsored surveillance operations, according to KMP’s publication, Alerto Pesante.

“Her disappearance can be attributed to her staunch position against anti-peasant policies and her genuine desire to change of the cruel and inhuman conditions experienced by the farmers in the grassroots,” KMP Northern Mindanao said in a statement.

The alleged abduction of Tacalang is said to coincide with President Aquino’s appointment of Brigadier General Ricardo Visaya as the new general Officer-in-Charge of Philippine Army’s 4^th Infantry Division, succeeding Major General Nestor Añonuevo.

Brig. Gen. Visaya shares the accusation of being responsible for the Hacienda Luisita massacre in 2004 and the abduction and torture of farmers Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo in 2006, together with Jovito Palparan, former commanding general of the 69th Infantry Battalion.

“He was also deployed in civil military operations in Metro Manila communities from February to September 2007, wherein numerous cases of threats, harassment, and intimidation of civilians occurred,” Alerto Pesante added.

KMP calls for the government, candidates, church leaders, and other concerned citizens to help in surfacing the woman leader. “We call on the family, friends, and the organized farmers whom Estelita had lived with, not to be cowed,” the group said.

The Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP)-Northern Mindanao also expressed concern over Tacalang’s disappearance.

“KMP is our partner organization, and Nanay Neneng contributed much in organizing peasant women in the Region to fight for their socio-economic and political rights. We believed she has been under attack because of this peaceful human rights work,” RMP stated.