DYAN Gumanao and Armand Dayoha on January 19 filed a formal complaint before the Commission on Human Rights Central Visayas against their still-to-be-identified abductors. The couple was taken by force by civilian-clad persons who introduced themselves as policemen at the Cebu City Pier 6 in the mid-morning of January 10. The couple had just arrived from Cagayan de Oro City on board the MV 2Go Maligaya. They were shoved into a vehicle while port employees and travelers looked on. The incident was caught on a video that was made public days after the incident.

Apparently, the abduction was reported to neither the police nor any other authority. Nothing was posted in social media until Gumanao's and Dayoha's relatives, friends and colleagues went public on January 14. Sometime during the night of January 15 (or early morning of January 16), Gumanao and Dayoha were left by their abductors at a resort in Carmen (approximately 43 kilometers north of Cebu City). The couple had reportedly been blindfolded and transported to various places, interrogated separately and pressed to give the names of fellow activists.