Open Letter to President Aquino from Edita Burgos

April 28, 2015

Honorable  Benigno C. Aquino III

President

Republic of the Philippines

Your Excellency:

I come with open hands offering prayers of peace for the Country, our beloved Philippines.

As you know, my son, Jonas is still missing.  Today he will have been gone for 8 years.  The case of Jonas, which the family has pursued very deliberately and carefully using peaceful means through our existing legal and government systems, has been marked by setbacks and victories.

By God’s grace we have won our legal battle. You have already been informed that our Supreme Court has affirmed the findings of the Court of Appeals to wit, (March 7, 2013):

1. That the case of Jonas’ abduction is a CASE OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE;
2. That the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine Army (AFP-PA) is ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE ABDUCTION;
3. That among many John Does, Major Harry Baliaga Jr., of the Philippine Army is RESPONSIBLE for the abduction of Jonas.

As a result of these conclusions we have filed a criminal case against Harry Baliaga and the case is being heard at the Quezon City RTC Branch 216.

We have won the battle and yet we are losing the war… Jonas has not been returned to his family and nobody has been held responsible for this noncompliance of the Supreme Court order (February 2, 2014). Even the National Bureau of Investigation whom Your Excellency has ordered to investigate and to file the necessary cases as expeditiously as they can as warranted from the investigation, has not done anything after more than a year after your order was received.

The family has not left any stone unturned … taking legal steps, pursuing all available avenues both private and government.  However, we very strongly believe that you, as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, can shorten the long drawn painful process of the search.

It is in this view, that we prayerfully plead that Your Excellency, order your subordinates, the AFP-PA to follow the SC order and return Jonas to the family, at whatever state he is in.

As a mother, I personally appeal to you to end this suffering of the family of not knowing the truth about what happened to Jonas.  Surely, you who have held your own mother dear and revered, would listen to this poor mother who is looking for her son.

And, finally, we all would like a world without Disappearances, allow me to take this opportunity to appeal to you to sign the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, People from being Disappeared and thus move towards that goal.  This would be a noteworthy legacy you can leave not only with the Philippines but with the world.

With prayers for a just, peaceful and disappearance free Philippines, I am,

EDITA T. BURGOS, OCDS

Mother of Jonas

Mr. President, Where is Jonas Burgos?

This week is the 8^th anniversary of farmer/activist Jonas Burgos’ abduction.   

On Tuesday, 28 April 2015, the Burgos family and their friends will converge at 10 am in front of McDonald’s Quezon Ave., Q.C. to personally deliver their Letter to President Aquino.

Please join us... 

For peace and justice.

FJBM reaction to the SC ruling

This is an atrocity against our family and against our people’s right to seek swift justice.

After three years of my son’s disappearance, and after a previous Supreme Court decision on July 16, 2007 granting our petition for habeas corpus, the same Supreme Court, in classic Pontius Pilate style, has now passed the case back on to the Commission on Human Rights for a “more meaningful investigation.”

We are, therefore, back to square one more than three years after the military and the police abducted my son. This, in spite of a writ of amparo we were granted by the appellate court in December 2007.

This is blatantly a whitewash disguised as judicial hogwash. The writ of amparo, much-trumpeted by the Supreme Court, has become merely a tool of the courts to further obfuscate and muddle the issue.

Citing “significant lapses” in the official investigation conducted by the PNP and AFP . Justice delayed is justice denied. But the Supreme Court seems not to be on the side of truth and justice but wallows in indecision and official deniability.

Despite the slow pace in the case, my family continued to respect the process even if we already felt that there was a cover-up in the abduction of my son by no less than our Iaw enforcers.

Now, do we have to pray again for the CHR to live up to this challenge of another investigation? But we have a CHR chair who is about to leave her post to assume a Cabinet position. Do we appeal to her to “please finish your investigation before you take on another sensitive post in government” this time?

I have consulted my lawyer Atty. Ricardo Fernandez, and he too was surprised that with the voluminous documents that were forwarded to the courts, the SC will now say that the Armed Forces of the Philippine and the Philippine National Police should make available to CHR pertinent documents and records. He wonders why the high court is again ordering a full probe of the case by the Commission on Human Rights when Jonas’s case had supposedly been previously investigated by the police, the military, the Justice Department and even the CHR.

Obviously the Supreme Court is washing its hands over the alleged cover up of the investigation. It did not even give a hint on whether or not the military officers and personnel that we have linked to the disappearance are guilty or not.

In the meantime, we are forced to continue searching for my missing son.

I believe that he is still alive, and his military captors must surface him. If he is dead, they must show me his body, and justice must prevail.

On the 3rd year commemoration of Jonas’ abduction and disappearance

What can the Presidentiables do for Jonas Burgos and the human rights situation in the Philippines?

“Today, April 28, 2010, I dare all presidential candidates to make a stand on enforced disappearances, torture, extra judicial killings and other violations of human rights. I challenge all of them to bare their human rights agenda instead of wasting their time mud-slinging. I ask all those seeking the highest post in the land what they can do for Jonas and the human rights situation in the country because this present government of Mrs. Gloria Arroyo has done nothing to find my son and give justice to what happened,” said Mrs. Edita Burgos in commemoration of the 3rd year of the abduction and disappearance of Jonas Burgos, activist, agriculturist and son of media icon Joe Burgos.

Three years ago today, Jonas was forcibly taken by armed men, believed to be members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, from a mall in Quezon City while eating inside a fast food restaurant. Since then, the Burgos family and friends have searched for him, yet he remains missing.

“We have brought his case to the Court of Appeals, the Commission on Human Rights and even the United Nations.” says Mrs. Edith Burgos, “ Unfortunately, the CA refused to grant me the Writ of habeas corpus and the writ of amparo, the Supreme Court has remained silent on my appeal for the reversal of the CA’s decision, This petition was filed in August 1, 2008, more than 1 year and 8 months ago, meanwhile the officers whom we have charged in court have been promoted. So now we ask – where is justice?”

Like other families who have lost their loved ones through enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings and other human rights violations, Mrs. Burgos has not stopped and will not stop searching for her son, Jonas. She will continue to seek for justice for him and for the thousands of victims of human rights violations under the present government.

According to the human rights group Desaparecidos, the human rights situation in the Philippines within this decade and under the leadership of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been at its worst since the time of the Marcos dictatorship. A total of 1,118 victims of extrajudicial killings and 204 victims of enforced disappearance has been documented by the human rights group Karapatan. The figures are only for the period of 2001 – 2009, add other cases that have been documented from January to April of this year, have yet to be added.

Aside from the enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings, other human rights violations continue to be committed by the Arroyo administration. “If this is the case, then we cannot hope for any justice from the current government.” Mrs. Burgos stated, adding that with just 12 days to go, they have not heard any Presidential candidate offer their human rights agenda to the Filipino people. “What can Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Erap Estrada, Gibo Teodoro, Dick Gordon, Eddie Villanueva, Nick Perlas, Jamby Madrigal and Jaycee delos Reyes do to improve the human rights situation in the country?” Mrs. Burgos asked.

Desaparecidos Deputy Secretary General Lorena “Aya” Santos could only agree. “In case these Presidential bets have forgotten, may we remind them that human rights issues – economic, social, civil, political and cultural rights – are the issues we as a nation must confront. Thus, we challenge those running for positions in government to present their human rights agenda to the nation and show us how they will protect the rights of the Filipino people. ###