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Raps filed vs Army officers linked to Jonas Burgos abduction


Edita Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos, filed with the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday a criminal complaint against active and retired military officers who are allegedly behind her son's abduction and enforced disappearance four years ago. In a 15-page complaint affidavit, Edita filed arbitrary detention charges against 1st Lt. Harry Baliaga Jr., Lt. Col. Melquiades Feliciano, Col. Eduardo Ano, and other members of the Army's 56th Infantry Battalion, the unit that allegedly carried out the abduction and disappearance. A Commission on Human Rights report to the Supreme Court last March named Baliaga as the principal abductor of Burgos. Burgos, son of the late journalist and staunch anti-dictatorship fighter Jose Burgos, was abducted April 28, 2007 allegedly by military personnel while he was having lunch at a restaurant inside the Ever Gotesco Mall in Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. In her complaint, Edita said the military has no legal basis to abduct her son on the suspicion that he was a communist rebel and as the intelligence head of the New People's Army. "Verily, the kidnapping and arbitrary detention of Jonas Burgos was bereft of any legal ground. No warrant for his arrest exists that would justify his arrest and detention," Edita said. As of posting time, GMA News Online was still trying to reach Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Commodore Miguel Lopez Rodriguez for comment. Obstruction of justice Edita also lodged obstruction of charges against former AFP chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon, retired Army general Romeo Tolentino, former Army commander and later AFP chief of staff Alexander Yano, and former Philippine National Police chief Director General Avelino Razon. The high-ranking officials supposedly gave false testimonies before the Court of Appeals to conceal the military's alleged involvement in the abduction. Esperon had testified that an investigation by the Provost Marshal General concluded that the involvement of any military personnel in the abduction of Burgos "cannot be pinpointed with accuracy." But in a later testimony, Provost Marshal General Abadilla said he has not yet conducted an inquiry because the matter is still being looked into by the police. Thus, Edita said: "[Esperon] made it appear that the military had already conducted its own investigation and per their investigation, there is nothing to indicate with accuracy the involvement of any military personnel." Edita likewise questioned the testimony of Tolentino, who denied that Burgos' abduction was reported to him; Yano, who categorically denied that the military never had Burgos in its custody; and Razon, who said that the PNP's Criminal Detection and Investigation Group (CIDG) had recommended to the DOJ that a certain Delfin de Guzman be charged for alleged kidnapping and detention. Amparo plea The testimonies were made when the CA handled Edita's petition for the issuance of the writ of amparo, a remedy granted by the court “through judicial orders of protection, production, inspection and other relief to safeguard one's life and liberty." The appellate court later said there was insufficient evidence to link the military, prompting Edita to seek redress from the Supreme Court, which later remanded the investigation to the CHR. In March this year, the commission submitted its findings to the high court and recommended that Baliaga and the 56th IB be held culpable. Among the CHR's recommendations is for the SC to order the DOJ to file kidnapping/enforced disappearance, and/or arbitrary detention charges against Baliaga "as principal by direct participation in the abduction of Burgos." — KBK, GMA News

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