Esperon: No AFP report for Burgos mom, family

There will be no forthcoming release of the military report over the abduction of activist Jonas Joseph Burgos and his two companions in Quezon City in April. On Thursday, no less than Philippine military chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said that he has been advised by the Judge Advocate General’s Office (JAGO) that releasing the AFP Provost Marshal report to the Burgos family was no longer necessary. "There’s no need (to release the report)…they (military lawyers) have studied it and the advise to me…I’m taking that…(is) there’s no need to release it," Esperon told reporters. Pressed further, Esperon added: "I don’t see the need (to release it) as of now." Esperon then reiterated that the AFP Provost Marshal focused on the loss of a license plate (TAB 194) from a vehicle impounded inside a local military camp in Norzagaray, Bulacan. The plate was later traced to a vehicle said to have been used in the abduction of Burgos and two others on April 28. "It (AFP Provost Marshal investigation) did not go into the matter of (the) abduction so as of now, that (report) should remain as an internal document to us. Based on that investigation, we have relieved battalion commanders, admonished battalion commanders. It has served its purpose as far as we are concerned in the Armed Forces," Esperon stressed. Earlier, Burgos’ mother Edita accused Esperon of covering up for the military officers and men implicated in her son’s case with the continued refusal to release the military investigation report. Among those named by Mrs Burgos as having knowledge on the abduction were Lieutenant Colonels Noel Clement and Melquiades Feliciano, both members of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) class of 1985. Clement was formerly commander of the 56th Infantry Battalion who was succeeded by Feliciano. Feliciano was relieved from the said post when the unit was linked to the Burgos case. At the same time, Esperon said military investigators were still verifying information that a breakaway faction of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) could be behind the abduction. "We do not have the complete picture. There have been names mentioned but let us not make hasty conclusions about that. We will continue to look into the matter…to look into all angles," he said. On Tuesday, Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino said the names "Ramon," "Mina," "Tabara," and "Front Committee 2" had cropped up in interviews with residents in Bulacan. Burgos, the son of the late press freedom fighter Jose "Joe" Burgos, had been working as a consultant for the left-wing peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) until his disappearance. - GMANews.TV