Last Seen:

July 31, 1977

Makati
Jessica Sales, a researcher and instructor at UP Los Baños, was last seen with Gerardo Faustino and five others near the vicinity of Makati Commercial Center on July 31, 1977. From reports of the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, they learned that six others had in fact disappeared under the same or related circumstances, all within a couple of days of each other.

The families of the missing began searching for their missing loved ones in the first week of August 1977. They visited detention centers in Manila and in Camp Olivas in Pampanga but yielded negative results.

On March 18, 1978, the families of Jessica Sales, Rizalinda Ilagan, Cristina Catalla, and Gerardo Faustino obtained permits for the exhumation of the bodies buried in Lucena by the military. The body of a young woman was exhumed, but the face was destroyed beyond recognition. The clothing, lower teeth, and height seemed to indicate that it belongs to Rizalinda Ilagan. The military, however, produced documentation that the said body belonged to a certain "Commander Edna."

It has been reported that Jessica has been seen several times in the company of military intelligence men until November 30, 1977. Until June 30, 1978, it was not known for sure whether Jessica was still alive.

To date, Jessica Sales and six of her colleagues remain disappeared.

details about their circumstances.