Vehicle in abduction of Burgos traced to DENR

Police said the vehicle reportedly used in the abduction of activist Jonas Joseph Burgos, son of the late press freedom advocate Jose Burgos Jr, was traced to the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources. Senior Superintendent Joel Napoleon Coronel, Metro Manila chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said in a television interview that Mauro Mudlong, registered owner of the utility with license plate TAB-194 reportedly used in Burgos' abduction, told them it had been impounded by the DENR. Coronel said Mudlong noted the DENR had impounded the vehicle on June 24, 2006 reportedly because it was suspected to have been used in illegal logging operations. Investigators tasked to locate the missing Jonas Joseph Burgos had sent a team to Norzagaray town in Bulacan province to interview the owner of a utility vehicle that matched descriptions of the getaway vehicle said to have been used by the alleged abductors. In a statement, Task Force USIG commander, police Director Geary Barias said the team of investigators dispatched by acting Quezon City police chief Senior Superintendent Magtanggol Gatdula would look for Mudlong. Barias said a verification of the license numbers with the Land Transportation Office database indicated that it is assigned to a 1991 model Isuzu utility vehicle owned by Mudlong. The same license numbers were noted by witnesses to be in the car plates of a maroon Toyota Revo used by Burgos' alleged abductors. Barias said Mudlong's statement will be taken to establish how the car plates registered to his car was transferred to another vehicle. National Police chief Director General Oscar Calderon earlier instructed Barias to mobilize investigating units and offices of the PNP to find the young Burgos, reportedly a member of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid based in San Miguel, Bulacan. Task Force USIG investigators have established contact with Burgos' family and is backtracking from where Jonas was last seen and with whom he communicated. "We are giving preferential attention to this particular case because of the status of the person involved whose father is considered a national figure in promoting press freedom," Barias said. Former President Corazon Aquino joined those who expressed concern on the alleged abduction of a son of the country’s press freedom icon. “I view with the deepest concern the disappearance and apparent abduction by unknown forces of the farmer-activist Jonas Joseph Burgos, son of the late world press freedom fighter Jose Burgos Jr. who lit our paths in the dark, long years of martial rule," Aquino said in a statement last week. - GMANews.TV