From the families of the disappeared...

Thank you FIND. The Burgos family prays for all disappeared and their families. We stand as one big family with FIND and all other organizations and individuals who have lost their loved ones to enforced disappearance.

A message to Jonas from Indonesia...

Thank you Kontras from Jonas' family. God bless our efforts to produce a world without disappearances. We pray for all the disappeared in Indonesia.

Sisters in faith and in fight

Edita Burgos, mother of Jonas Burgos, hugs Sister Patricia Fox in solidarity during a mass early today in UP Diliman, Quezon City. The mass was offered by the Diocese of Cubao for Sister Pat who is facing deportation for serving the peasants and workers in the Philippines. The nun likewise offered her solidarity to the Burgos Family on their journey to find Jonas, a farmer-activist who also fought for the rights of the peasants.

Sa Pagbabalik Mo--by Yumi Burgos

This is Yumi Burgos' animatic dedicated to her Tati in commemoration of the 11th year of Jonas Burgos' disappearance.

11TH Anniversary of Jonas Burgos’ Abduction

The Supreme Court affirming the March 27, 2013 resolution of the Court of Appeals ruled that the Philippine Army of the Armed Forces of the Philippines took Jonas Joseph Burgos on April 28, 2007, establishing that Jonas is a victim of enforced disappearance. He was alone, unarmed and having his lunch when Maj. Harry Baliaga Jr. along with 3 men and a woman, dragged him out of the Hapag Kainan Restaurant of the Ever Gotesco Mall in Quezon City, according to the same document of the Supreme Court. An order by the Court for the military to produce Jonas was not complied with and to this day, nobody has been cited in contempt.

Eleven years after the abduction Jonas remains to be missing. The truth about his enforced disappearance authored by the military remains to be a mystery. Justice has been denied. Meanwhile, the suspects in the case, all military officers, have been promoted, granted choice positions in government and the military hierarchy and enjoy the perks that go with their positions. It is not a surprise to read news stories that report that some of the suspected abductors are now assigned in areas where there are many cases of enforced disappearances.

For eleven years Jonas’ family endured the consequences of a missing breadwinner, protector, brother, son. No relief is in sight… for now.

Unless and until the authorities realize that the only way to earn the complete confidence of the people in government sincerity, to completely implement the law, the first step of which is to clean the ranks of the military and weed out the undesirables.

The case of Jonas is a clear example of why impunity and tyranny continue to afflict our society. The evidence established the guilt of the accused, and the court ruled accordingly … the case was won, but the battle was lost. Those accountable were not made to pay. Jonas has not been returned to his family.

For eleven years, family and friends tried all peaceful avenues purportedly available in a democratic society.

There has been no dearth in fidelity, nor of persistence and tenacity among members of the family, nor has there been any shortage of generous hearts and souls, volunteers and pro bono services in all the arcs and bends, man-made ruts and pits and heaps and mounds of the sometimes agonizing, sometimes dangerous path of the search for Jonas. At every turn, family and friends were constantly accompanied by prayers, so much so that the phrase ‘God’s providence’ was so genuinely felt. When someone in the family would falter, a Simon of Cyrene and a Veronica are sent our way.

So what else is left? ‘Missing eleven years’ is unacceptable. We pray that the Lord would soften the hearts of the perpetrators… prick the consciences of those ‘who know’ and enlighten the minds of the executioners of the law.

Return Jonas as ordered by the Supreme Court! Punish the guilty!

Año's Appointment, A Sad Day For Human Rights Victims and Defenders

This is a sad day for human rights victims and defenders. Truly with the appointment of Gen. Año as army chief there is no hope at all that justice will be obtained for human rights crimes during the watch of Aquino.

I fear for defenders, victims and independent minded human rights workers. With so much power in the hands of a head of an Institution reputed to be a violator of human rights, we can only pray to the Lord Almighty to have mercy.

With all the pieces of evidence gathered in the case of Jonas, pointing to Año and his co-officers, I believe that at one point during Jonas’ disappearance, Año had custody of Jonas.

This scourge forced on us will only bring out a more dedicated commitment to the cause of human rights.

We take comfort in the thought that the One Judge sees all and will extract payment.

-Edith Burgos, mother Jonas

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