Police investigators overlook military as suspects in Burgos abduction

Police investigators overlook military as suspects in Burgos abduction

“Are technical matters more important than the life of a person?” – Mrs. Edita Burgos said after the Court of Appeals denied the request to show the photograph of a female soldier linked to the abduction of her son Jonas

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA –Mrs. Edita Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas, was not able to control her tears. The mother who has been looking for her son for more than four years could not hide her frustration at the Court of Appeals (CA) hearing today.

The CA Special 7th Division is again hearing the habeas corpus petition filed by Mrs. Burgos after the Supreme Court, in a decision issued in July, reverted back the case to the CA. The same division of the appellate court dismissed the habeas corpus petition in June 2008, saying the prosecution failed to prove that the military was behind the abduction.

In today’s hearing, October 12, lawyer Ricardo Fernandez, counsel of the petitioner, called on the CA justices to enjoin the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to show the photograph of a certain Lt. Fernando who has been identified by a witness, through a cartographic sketch, as one of those who took Jonas. Jonas was abducted on April 28, 2007 at a restaurant inside a mall in Quezon City.

Fernandez said the identification of the female suspect “could establish the link between the abductors and the military.”

Before the start of the hearing, Assistant Solicitor General Amparo Tang, counsel of the public respondents, showed a copy of the summary of information of 1st Lt. Rachel Fernando-Facunda, formerly assigned to the 56th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, to Fernandez. When Fernandez insisted that Tang show the photograph of the female soldier to the justices and to Senior Supt. Joel Napoleon Coronel, former regional director of the National Capital Region (NCR) Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), Tang objected.

Tang said the SC resolution clearly states that the summary of information and the other documents were submitted by the OSG exclusively to the high court. “The SC will be the one to determine the relevance and the advisability of public disclosure of these documents. To show this summary of information would be preempting the SC,” Tang argued.

“This is a chance for the petitioners to establish the direct link [of the military to the abduction]. That photo could be the female in the [cartographic] sketch,” Fernandez pointed out.

According to one of the memoranda issued by NCR CIDG on the case of Jonas in 2007, the Quezon City Police District made seven sketches of suspects based on the descriptions of witnesses. Only two – one male and a female – however, were attached to the documents submitted by authorities to the courts. When asked about this, Coronel said the other five were not subscribed to by the witnesses and he never had the chance to see the sketches.

Justice Rosario Vicente asked Coronel, then chief of the NCR-CIDG and who was at the witness stand, if cartographic sketches are reliable in identifying suspects. Coronel answered yes. “It baffles us why you have not attempted to identify the female composite sketch.”

Coronel said they asked for a roster of the 56th IB but the Army refused, citing security reasons. “Had the Army given us the roster, we would be able to see the photographs and show them to the witnesses,” Coronel said.
 

“Given the testimony of the witness [Coronel], it has become material and relevant. In 2007, he was not able to compare the photo to the sketch. We’re not making this up. This name cropped up in the CHR [Commission on Human Rights] report. We’re just following up on that report,” Fernandez said.

The lawyer of the petitioner was referring to the CHR report issued in March. Based on that report, the CHR interviewed a rebel returnee named as Maria Vita Lozada who, upon being shown the sketch of the female suspect, identified Fernando. Lozada said she worked with Fernando in counterinsurgency operations when she was still in the custody of the 56th IBPA from March 2006 until she left the 56th IB headquarters in October 2007. Jeffrey Cabintoy, a former busboy at Hapag Kainan restaurant, a key witness, provided the description of the female abductor..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/10/12/police-investigators-overlook-military-as-suspects-in-burgos-abduction/