A new case was filed recently for the enforced disappearance of Jonas Burgos. The petitioners were the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and Edita T. Burgos, mother of the missing activist. Only, Mrs. Burgos said she never filed such complaint.
"This new complaint was filed without my concurrence or support," Edita said. "This is obviously to cover up the participation of the 56th Infantry Battalion and the Intelligence Service Group (ISG) in the abduction of my son," she added.
"This case never seizes to amaze me," Edita Burgos said. The mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos was referring to the subpoena she received days before her son's birthday. Mrs. Burgos disclosed that in a letter dated March 5, 2008, Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony D. Fadullon has stated that there is no pendng investigation on the disappearance of Jonas as no case has yet been referred by the Philippine National Police.
Mrs. Burgos filed only two cases which have been decided by the Court of Appeals--Petitions for Writ of Habeas Corpus and Writ of Amparo. Both cases are now under review by the Supreme Court.
The latest complaint was filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) titled CIDG-Editha T. Burgos vs. Delfin De Guzman, et al. I.S. No. 2008-846. It is seeking to charge De Guzman for the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of Jonas.
Guzman was a suspected NPA leader who was arrested in Norzagaray, Bulacan in 2006, a year before Jonas was abducted.
Guzman was pinpointed as mastermind of the abduction by Melissa Reyes, Emerito Lipio and Marlon Manuel.
"The statements of the three were most likely the basis for the latest case", Mrs. Burgos surmised. Reyes, Lipio, and Manuel were presented by the police to the media in 2007 as key witnesses to the abduction of Jonas.
Earlier reports, however, revealed that each of the witnesses had already been under the custody of the police or military before of Jonas Abduction.
Lipio, along with six other militant members of the driver's federation Piston in Central Luzon, was abducted in Angeles City on July 23, 2006. Among the units implicated in the abduction were the Army's 56th and 69th IB. The abducted activists were eventually released, except for Lipio. He remained missing and surfaced only when he was presented to the media on August 28, 2007.
Reyes Is a rebel-returnee who, based on her testimony, reports regularly to the military.
"I read the affidavits of these three persons" Edita said. "But the overwhelming evidences point towards the 56th IB and the ISG."
Jonas was tagged by the military as a member of the NPA. He was abducted April 28, 2007 by four armed men and a woman while having lunch at the Hapag Kainan in Ever Gotesco. Witnesses said that Jonas was dragged into a maroon Toyota Revo van with Plate number TAB 194. Earlier investigation of the PNP-CIDG traced the plate number to an impounded vehicle at the 56th IB headquarters Philippine Army Camp in Norzagaray, Bulacan.
Jonas is a member of Alyansang Magbubukid ng Bulacan who teaches organic farming to farmers. He has been missing for 701 days and turns 39 years old today (March 29, 2009).
