Real on reel: a study on how the victims of enforced disappearances, the government, and the society are portrayed in films

Abstract

"Sobra nang pahirap ang pitong taong paghahanap! Sobra na talaga!.” (Seven years of searching is too much of an agony. It's just too much!)

The statement above came from the mothers of missing Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, as their daughters’ disappearance reached its 7th year. Karen and Sherlyn are only two of the many victims of enforced disappearances. The first incident of enforced disappearance happened during the reign of Ferdinand Marcos. The FIND documented the Marcos regime with the highest number of victims of enforced disappearances with 878 cases, followed by Cory Aquino’s administration with 614 victims, Gloria Arroyo’s administration with 182 victims, Fidel Ramos’ administration with 94 victims, Joseph Estrada’s administration with 58 victims, and the current administration of President Noynoy Aquino with 12 victims as of the year 2010 (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2012). Enforced disappearance is still an unaddressed issue here in the Philippines. In fact, it was only during the year 2012 when an act, penalizing enforced or involuntary disappearances, was signed into law by the president. According to the Republic Act 10353, “enforced or involuntary disappearance refers to the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty committed by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which places such person outside the protection of the law.