Last Seen:

March 30, 1983

Caloocan City
YOLANDA GORDULA, 31 years old, single, and a business administration graduate from Tagkawayan, Quezon, was last seen with her friend Dr. Juan Escandor on March 30, 1983, in Caloocan City. Dr. Escandor was reportedly killed by Metrocom operatives in a shootout in Quezon City at around 3:00 a.m. on March 31, 1983 for being suspected as a ranking member of the Communist Party of the Philippines- New People's Army (CPP-NPA).

 

The incident was published in newspapers, but nothing was reported about Yolanda Gordula.  Before her disappearance, she had been working for six months with a civic organization named Friends of the Coconut Farmers and Workers (FCFW). Her friends believed that her involvement with the plight of the marginalized sector, especially the coconut farmers and workers, was the reason why she was being suspected by government authorities as member of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

 

Immediate families, relatives, and friends gave their account of Yolanda's disappearance. One of them was Erlinda S. Jeremias, wife of Yolanda's nephew, a fish dealer and resident of San Pascual, Obando, Bulacan. Based on her sworn statement, Yolanda and Dr. Juan Escandor arrived at their home on March 30, 1983, at around 5:00 in the afternoon. Yolanda told her that she would spend a vacation with them and teach Erlinda's children to read and write as she usually did whenever she came. Yolanda left at around 7:00 p.m. to accompany her friend, Dr. Juan Escandor who was visiting a friend in Caloocan.

 

She left her belongings except a little shoulder bag she carried with her and promised to be back that night. When she did not, Erlinda assumed that Yoly had gone home to Sulucan, Sampaloc, instead.  In her affidavit, Concepcion (Connie) F. Mendoza, sister of Yolanda's boyfriend and resident of 117 William Shaw St., Caloocan City, stated that she has known Yolanda for almost three years and visited her house every now and then. That on March 30, 1983, at around 8:00 in the evening, Yolanda and Dr. Juan Escandor passed by their house and had dinner with the family. An hour later, they bade goodbye and left. That was the last time she had seen her. On April 02, she read from the Times Journal that Dr. Juan Escandor was killed by the elements of the Metrocom Intelligence Service Group (MISG), but it had said nothing about Yolanda.

 

On April 07, at around 4:00 - 5:00 in the afternoon, an unidentified man wearing a shirt and maong pants knocked at the Gordula's residence on Sulucan St., Sampaloc, Manila. He was asking for Yolanda's siblings, but Adora Maldo, Yolanda's niece, told him that they were not around yet. Then he told Adora to tell her aunts and uncle that Yolanda was apprehended by the MISG, and the man left hurriedly afterwards.

 

Letty, Yolanda's younger sister, was alarmed when Adora told her about the man who brought the news that her Ate Yoly was arrested by elements of the MISG. She immediately went to Obando, where she knew her Ate Yoly was supposed to have spent the week. Finding all her medicines intact and her clothes in order, Letty knew that something was wrong. Letty visited Connie who informed her about Yoly's visit last March 30 with Dr. Juan Escandor.

 

Letty had also read the news about Dr. Escandor's tragic death published by the Times Journal on April 2. Fearing that Yoly could probably be dead too, she checked with different funeral parlors in Manila, Paco, Pasay, and Quezon City. She placed paid ads in newspapers: Bulletin, Tempo and Times Journal to publicly announce Yoly's disappearance hoping she was still alive.  She also made inquiries from different hospitals and morgues in Manila and Quezon City.  Between April 12-25, Letty went to all known detention centers and other government offices namely: Constabulary Security Group (CSG), PC-INP Stockade, Criminal Investigation Services (CIS), Metrocom Intelligence Service Group (MISG), Command for the Administrtion of Detainees (CADOC), Office of the Metrocom Adjutant (OMA), Metrocom Intelligence Unit (M-2) all in Camp Crame; 15TH Military Intelligence Group (MIG-15) in Bago Bantay, Quezon City; Bicutan Rehabilitation Center (BRC) in Taguig, Rizal; Ministry of National Defense (MND), Civilian Relations Division (CRD), Office of Detainees Affairs (ODA) all in Camp Aguinaldo.  On April 19, Letty, with Yolanda's boyfriend, Rodolfo Mendoza, went to the Metrocom Intelligence Unit (M-2). Personnel at the office admitted having Yolanda with them as well as the office secretary who ensured that Yolanda's papers were in their hands.

 

The next day, at the MISG, she was told that she needed the approval of Col. Rolando Abadilla, the MISG Chief, before she could be allowed to visit Yolanda. Later, she only received misleading and conflicting statements from the military authorities.  Having exhausted all efforts provided by law to locate her Ate Yoly, Letty filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus through the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) on April 21, 1983. The respondents, through their lawyers, pressed for the dismissal of the case on the ground that the military had not arrested nor detained Yolanda.  Manuelito Gordula, Yolanda's brother based in the U.S. and a chief petty officer at the Norfolk Naval Station Commissary, had written and mailed about 1,000 letters to the Philippine politicians, government bureaucrats, military officials, and Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos is trying to locate his sister. He also sought the help of 2nd District U.S. Rep. G. William Whitehurst and Sen. Paul S. Trible, who in turn sent cables and letters to the State Department, the Philippine Embassy in Washington, and the U.S. Embassy in Manila. No one had any answers. Manuelito could do nothing more but wait for some news from the Philippines. Fortunately, he found support from the Task Force for Philippine Human Rights of Tidewater based at St. Pius Catholic Church in Norfolk, a spiritual home for about 300 Filipino families.  Mrs. Lolita Hurla Gordula, Yolanda's mother based in Colorado, U.S.A., sought the help of the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) through its Chairperson Mrs. Cecilia C. Lagman, who in turn sought the help of Sen. Jose W. Diokno, the Chairperson of the Presidential Committee on Human Rights (PCHR).  All these efforts by Gordula's family and friends seemed futile because Yolanda's whereabouts are still unknown to this day.

details about their circumstances.