Last Seen:

October 5, 1991

Albay
EDMUNDO OPEÑA MATABA, Albay, and married to Emelita Prago, also of the same place, disappeared under mysterious circumstances at about 4:00 in the afternoon of 5 October 1991.

He was last seen on the premises of the Albay Provincial Hospital while accompanying a wounded friend, known as "Ka Elvis."  Earlier during the day, Edmundo, Emelita, and other relatives brought Ka Elvis to the Albay Provincial Hospital for treatment. He was stabbed by an unidentified assailant while attending a benefit dance in a neighboring barangay. At about 4:00 in the afternoon, Emelita went back to Guinobatan to attend to a personal matter. She returned to the hospital at around 8:00 in the evening but could not find Edmundo. She gathered from Ka Elvis that when she left earlier, her husband was sent by a nurse to the hospital laboratory to get blood for transfusion. He has not returned since then, and that was to be the last time Edmundo was seen.

He related that Edmundo, appearing apprehensive, confided in him that two or three men, Guinobatan policemen, have been tailing him.

This prompted Emelita to spend the following days looking for her husband.

The day after Edmundo mysteriously disappeared, Emelita went to the Assistance Center in Binogsacan, Guinobatan. There, she was flatly told by an officer that nobody surnamed Mataba was under their custody.

She proceeded to seek the assistance of the Guinobatan mayor, who accompanied her to the Motacon, Polangi assistance center. They gathered nothing there. The mayor also went to see the general at Camp Ola, who denied sending any operatives to arrest Edmundo. Instead, he offered the mayor information that it was the CIS who operate in the area.

During the case documentation, Emelita recalled she saw a policeman whom she could not identify at the hospital before Edmundo disappeared. She remembered seeing the same policeman go over the hospital records. She had a clear recollection of this policeman who had a prominent scar on the right side of his face, between the eye and the cheekbone.

On 4 August 1993, Emelita secured a certification that the case of Edmundo's disappearance was entered in the Police Blotter of the Guinobatan Police Station and recorded on 21 October 1991. By the time the certification was issued to Emelita, and presently, Edmundo Opeña Mataba remains missing.

On the other hand and for the record, Crisanta Opeña Mataba, Edmundo's mother, claims custody over Edmundo and Emelita's children, Richard and Ryan. In her sworn affidavit dated 11 August 1993, Crisanta maintains that it is she who provides for the subsistence and education of said children. Their mother, Emelita, was at that time now based in Manila, where she had taken up residence with a live-in partner.  In the same affidavit, Crisanta claims whatever compensation by reason of the disappearance of her son, Edmundo Opeña Mataba, on behalf of his two children.

details about their circumstances.