Surface Dexter and Bazoo! End enforced disappearances. 

Dexter and Bazoo are indigenous peoples’ rights defenders who have been missing since April 2023. 

Indigenous Peoples’ rights defenders Dexter Capuyan and Gene Roz Jamil “Bazoo” de Jesus, were last seen in Taytay town, Rizal province, on 28 April 2023. Witnesses state that two men matching Dexter and Bazoo’s descriptions were forcibly taken by unknown individuals identifying themselves as working for a police agency, around the time and place where the two activists were last seen.  

For two years, friends, loved ones, and fellow indigenous rights advocates have called for answers to their disappearance. Their families have tried searching for them by visiting military and police facilities, but majority of these facilities have denied them assistance and access.  

On 12 August 2025, the Court of Appeals formally considered Dexter and Bazoo as victims of enforced disappearance, and recognized the possible involvement of state security forces. The court emphasized the failure of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to exercise due diligence and cited “egregious shortcomings” including withholding a statement from a key witness that discredited the investigation’s claim of Dexter and Bazoo “voluntarily” leaving with armed men. While this ruling is a welcome development and may lead the way to finding Dexter and Bazoo, decisive action from the state is needed. 

In line with their offices’ and the government’s international human rights obligations, we call on the Philippine National Police to:  

• Comply with the writ of amparo and finally carry out a prompt, thorough, independent, impartial, transparent and effective investigation into their disappearance with maximum diligence; 
• Categorically state whether or not Dexter and Bazoo are in government custody, alongside fulfilling the government’s other obligations under the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012; and  
• Should they be detained by the government, immediately release Dexter and Bazoo and ensure that those suspected to be responsible for their enforced disappearance are brought to justice in fair trials.   

The Philippines is party to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012 is a national law supposed to provide safeguards and penalties against enforced and involuntary disappearances. However, human rights defenders and activists continue to be abducted and disappeared with impunity. In addition to Dexter and Bazoo, there have been more than a dozen reported cases under the current administration. Many of these activists were relentlessly ‘red-tagged’ or accused by the government of being members of the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army.