Last July 4, 2022, peasant organizers and human rights defenders Ma. Elena Pampoza and Elgene Mungcal went missing. The two were last located in Moncada, Tarlac and are yet to resurface.
The night before they vanished, Pampoza’s daughter, Azase Galang claims that her mother was incommunicado and did not answer any of her messages. Since then, the two organizers were nowhere to be found.
“Wala siyang kaaway o inaapi. Marami siyang kaibigan dahil kanyang mga napaglingkuran. Wala siyang mga utang na hindi binabayaran (She has no enemies. She has many friends because of those she has served. She has no unpaid debts),” says Galang pertaining to her mother.
“Marami ring beses na pinuntahan ng uniformed personnel ng AFP at PNP ang aking lola, para takutin at hanapin si Mama sa kanila (The uniformed personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) also went to my grandmother many times, to scare and look for my mother),” Galang said.
As reported by Surface Moncada 2 Network – an alliance of individuals that calls to resurface Pampoza and Mungcal – the instance involving the two organizers is the fifth to occur throughout Central Luzon. The first three disappearances are the cases of Steve Abua, a peasant organizer in Pampanga; Diodicto Minzo, a peasant leader in San Luis, Aurora; and Joey Torres, a peasant organizer in Nueva Ecija.
