Moving On
By Diana Moraleda
On May 28, 1987, community organizer and ex-political detainee Reynaldo Garcia, 24, started the day early to run some errands. He left his home at around 6:00 a.m. and never returned. Garcia’s wife, Emily, who was eight months pregnant, did not hear from him the whole day. By late afternoon, she went searching and learned that someone was abducted that morning at a bakery not far from their house. Witnesses’ descriptions and a slipper left behind reveal that the victim was indeed Garcia. No evidence was left to trace the perpetrators. Their faces were not seen. The plate number of their vehicle was not recorded.
Death allows mourning and creates a prospect of healing and closure. Disappearances only spawn doubts and indecision. More often, families of victims of stealth removals are paralyzed into inaction, thinking that if they do not create noise, their husbands, wives, fathers or children will be freed. Not Emily Garcia. She immediately vowed to do all she could to find her husband. She owed it to him, she said. From 1987 to 2000, Emily worked full time for Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, Families of Involuntary Disappearances, and Karapatan, an alliance of human rights advocates. As a coordinator for various activities, she was introduced to other families of the disappeared and found encouragement and strength in them.
By the fifth year of her search, Emily finally accepted that she may never find Reynaldo. Yet she stayed with the movement vowing to raise awareness so that no one else will be abducted or executed again.
After twenty years, Emily is moving on. She now runs a T-shirt printing business. Most of her time is spent overseeing production, meeting clients or taking care of her one-year-old grandchild. Emily has not joined any activity for the desaparecidos as of late.