Army units linked to Burgos case ordered to submit report on 2007 operations

From GMA News (Apr 14): Army units linked to Burgos case ordered to submit report on 2007 operations

The Philippine Army's leadership has ordered all units linked to the disappearance of political activist Jonas Burgos in 2007 to submit a report on all operations they undertook that year, a military spokesperson said Sunday.

Army chief Lt. Gen. Noel Coballes gave verbal and written directives earlier this month for troops to provide information on all their operations six years ago to be able to gather information “that may help in locating Jonas,” Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said.

“He [Coballes] wants that if there is an investigation, we are ready to present our documents…All documents pertaining to 2007 operations of the directed units should be collated, sealed and he shall be the only one who can direct their opening,” Cabangbang said.

The Army spokesman said the directives were particularly given to the Army’s 7th Infantry Division, 7th Military Intelligence Battalion and to the 57th Infantry Battalion and to “selected staff” at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio.

Last Friday, the Supreme Court ordered the Armed Forces' leadership to submit a confidential report on the whereabouts of soldiers allegedly linked to Burgos' disappearance.

Burgos, a political activist and son of the late press freedom advocate Jose Burgos, was abducted in a restaurant at the Ever Gotesco Mall along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City on April 28, 2007. The license plate number of the vehicle used in his abduction was traced to a vehicle impounded at the camp of the Army's 56th Infantry Battalion in Bulacan.

The Court of Appeals recently implicated an Army officer, Maj. Harry Baliaga, as the one primary responsible for Burgos' enforced disappearance. President Benigno Aquino III has also asked the Department ofJustice to direct the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct a “focused, dedicated and exhaustive” probe on the Burgos case.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/303824/news/nation/army-units-linked-to-burgos-case-ordered-to-submit-report-on-2007-operations