Burgos Family Urges Government, AFP to Surface Jonas After CHR Found Army Culpable

 Burgos Family Urges Government, AFP to Surface Jonas After CHR Found Army Culpable

“After almost four years of waiting, we finally see a glimmer of hope…While we seem to have won this battle, the real measure of success is the recovery of my son. We shall continue the fight until Jonas is returned to us, alive and well and justice is served.” – Edita Burgos

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – While the family of missing activist Jonas Burgos welcomes the latest report of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) implicating the military in the abduction, Jonas’s mother Edita said the real measure of success is the recovery of her son. Jonas’s brother JL, meanwhile, said the perpetrators must be brought to justice.

“Our theory has been right all along. The evidence gathered by the CHR confirms our family’s theory that the Philippine Army is involved in the abduction of my son and elements of the police and military are participating in a cover up to hide the identity of the abductors and those involved,” Mrs. Burgos said in a statement.

Jonas, son of press freedom icon Jose “Joe” Burgos Jr., was abducted on April 28, 2007 at the Ever Gotesco mall in Commonwealth, Quezon City by suspected elements of the Philippine Army. He remains missing to this day.

The CHR investigation led by Commissioner Jose Mamauag found that the abduction of Jonas is “not a simple case of kidnapping done by some individuals within the military, but is, in fact, a part of the entire counter-insurgency program of the past administration wherein both military and police forces played a crucial role in its enforcement.”

The CHR was tasked by the Supreme Court to investigate the abduction of Jonas. In its resolution, the high court noted that there were “significant lapses” in the police investigation. The Burgos family filed a petition seeking the reversal of the decision of the Court of Appeals denying their petition for writ of amparo and absolving police and military officials implicated in the Burgos case.

In the report signed by Mamauag, the CHR has asked the Supreme Court to direct Army Lt. Harry Baliaga Jr. to produce Jonas. Baliaga was known to have been assigned to the 56th Infantry Battalion in Bulacan. The license plate of one of the vehicles used in Burgos’ abduction was traced to a vehicle under the custody of the Army battalion.

The CHR recommended the filing of kidnapping charges against Baliaga who was identified by two witnesses as among those who abducted Jonas. The commission also urged the high court to grant the petition for writ of amparo filed by Mrs. Burgos.

“After almost four years of waiting, we finally see a glimmer of hope…” Mrs. Burgos said. “While we seem to have won this battle, the real measure of success is the recovery of my son. We shall continue the fight until Jonas is returned to us, alive and well and justice is served.”

Command Responsibility
 
The Burgos family deems that Baliaga “will not act without orders from higher authorities.”
The CHR said the assignment of criminal responsibility must not be confined to the few soldiers who executed the crime. “If ever, they are mere henchmen of the hierarchy of fear that held sway in the past. What is more fundamental is how the principle of command responsibility may be made to bear against the higher-ups who ordered the disappearance of Jonas Burgos, an activist and critic of the former regime,” the CHR said in a statement..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com


URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/03/23/burgos-family-urge-government-afp-to-surface-jonas-after-chr-found-army-culpable/