Friday, April 12, 2013

DND says military to comply with SC order on Burgos case

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 12): DND says military to comply with SC order on Burgos case

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin Friday said the Armed Forces will comply with the Supreme Court order the military must disclose the location of the soldiers involved in the abduction of activist Jonas Burgos.

"AFP chief-of-staff Gen. Emmanuel T. Bautista has already given his word that they will cooperate. The DND will also cooperate and make sure that the people or personnel needed in the investigation will come out," he added.

The DND chief also clarified the military and the defense establishment are not hiding these individuals.

"We will cooperate fully with our legal system," he added.

"The Court directed the incumbent Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines Lt. Gen. Emmanuel T. Bautista, to submit to the Court a confidential report on the present location and/or whereabouts of these military personnel [listed in the after apprehension report dated April 30, 2007] and ensure that these military personnel can be located and served with the processes that this Court may serve, if any," the SC on Friday said.

The after apprehension report was part of the sealed document submitted by Jonas' mother, Edita, to the SC as among the new evidence they obtained that proves the involvement of the military in the disappearance of her son on April 28, 2007.

Aside from the after apprehension report, the other new evidence include psycho-social processing report and autobiography of Jonas Burgos, all of which are confidential reports of a military official.

"The newly-discovered evidence will prove that the officers and enlisted personnel of the particular unit of the 7th Infantry Division and the 56th Infantry Brigade are responsible for the enforced disappearance of Jonas Burgos; that these units captured and interrogated him and based on the same evidence, could probably continue to detain him or God forbid, had disposed of him in the manner that only they could explain," Mrs. Burgos said in her petition filed before the SC on April 1, 2013.

Mrs. Burgos filed the petition before the SC asking it to order another hearing of her missing son's case based on the new evidence that they have discovered.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=&sid=&nid=&rid=515831

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