Lucena’s parents, assisted by lawyer Ferdinand Topacio and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), the government’s counter-insurgency body, filed the petition on May 11. The high tribunal said Lucena’s parents “failed to make a case” that she was being detained or was being kept by Anakbayan against her will. ‘Radicalized’It said Lucena’s situation did not qualify either as an actual or a threatened enforced disappearance or extralegal killing. It added that Lucena was not missing and her whereabouts were known as she was staying with Anakbayan and its officers. The couple said their daughter was recruited by Anakbayan when she was just 17, and was “radicalized and indoctrinated,” leading to her disappearance.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 18, 2020 20:26 UTC