Friday, February 29, 2008 Military report bares link of Jonas Burgos, wife to Reds
MRS. Edita Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos, on Thursday presented before the Court of Appeals (CA) a confidential report of the Philippine Army showing that his son and his wife were among those suspected of being members of the New People's Army (NPA).
At the continuation of the hearing for the petition for amparo filed by the Burgos matriarch, she testified that a military officer whom she refused to identify supplied her with the confidential report of the Army's 56th Infantry Battalion (IB) addressed to the commander general of the 703rd IB in Arayat, Pampanga.
"I promised him that I will not reveal his identity. He said that he wanted to clear his conscience because he got bothered," said Mrs. Burgos, who insisted that the officer was in no way involved in the disappearance.
The 56th IB, which submitted the report, was the same troop whose personnel have been accused of masterminding Jonas's abduction at a restaurant in Commonwealth, Quezon City.
Such report made reference to a radio message dated May 17, 2007, would show that the 56th IB has "neutralized" Jonas alias Ramon/Raymond/Mon/Simon, while his wife Marian alias Mina went inactive in NPA activities.
The report further showed that Jonas, who supposedly headed the NPA's provincial intelligence department in Bulacan, underwent tactical investigation.
Mrs. Burgos admitted that she did not know that Jonas was called by such aliases but she cannot say if he's really a member of the NPA.
She said the report would prove that his son was in the "order of battle" of the military since March 12, 2007 to stamp out insurgency in Bulacan, and which would establish the motive for his abduction last April 28, 2007.
In fact, she said there is a continuing threat on her family, citing the testimony of her cousin, Ma. Carmen Bon, who told the court last Thursday that two alleged representatives of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) came to her house in Tandang Sora twice two weeks ago to inquire about Jonas's wife and daughter.
Bon said her residence is beside the Burgoses' office, where is the secretary.
She said the two alleged CHR personnel were not exactly friendly, but what made her suspicious was their statement that they need to know the whereabouts of Marian because the commission will conduct a reinvestigation of the case of her husband's disappearance.
"I find those visits unusual. They were asking about Jonas's relationship with me and about his extending help to the farmers, but when I asked if they were reopening the case, why were they investigating the family when they should be investigating somebody else? They just said its part of their procedure," Bon said.
While saying that her family would welcome another investigation on her son's disappearance, Burgos said the representation of the two CHR agents was highly suspect and could be another ploy to harass her family, especially Jonas's wife, who was suspected of being an NPA sympathizer. (ECV/Sunnex)
