AFP to ‘study’ CHR report on Burgos abduction

Neither confirming nor denying its alleged involvement in the disappearance of activist Jonas Burgos, the military said Monday it has yet to decide on the actions it will take following the release of a government report directly linking the Philippine Army to the abduction. However, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said it will come up with a recommendation on Wednesday regarding the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) report tagging 1st Lt. Harry Baliaga Jr. of the Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion (IB) in the abduction. At a press briefing, Col. Domingo Tutaan, chief of the AFP’s Human Rights Office, said he has met with CHR chairperson Loretta Rosales upon the instruction of AFP chief Lt. Gen. Eduardo Oban to discuss the contents of the report. Tutaan did not elaborate, however, how the discussion went. He said Oban ordered the creation of a technical working group (TWG) that will determine actions that the AFP may take on the recommendations of the CHR to the Supreme Court. The CHR submitted its report to the court on March 15. The SC ordered the CHR in June last year to conduct an extensive investigation on Burgos’ disappearance. Among the CHR’s recommendations for the court is to order Baliaga, the 56th IB based in Bulacan, and the 7th Infantry Division headquarters in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, “to produce the living body of Jonas Burgos before this court." The TWG is to be headed by Tutaan and composed of representatives from the offices of the Inspector General, the Provost Marshal General, the Judge Advocate General and the AFP’s Human Rights Office. According to Tutaan, Oban ordered the TWG to come up with its own recommendations on March 23. “We will base everything on the March 15 report of the CHR so that we can start (with) the actions that we will undertake," he said. Burgos, son of the late journalist and staunch anti-dictatorship fighter Jose Burgos, was abducted on April 28, 2007 allegedly by military personnel at a restaurant inside a mall in Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. - KBK, GMA News