EXCLUSIVE | Mug shot boosts case that Jonas Burgos was in military custody

From InterAksyon (Apr 1): EXCLUSIVE | Mug shot boosts case that Jonas Burgos was in military custody




After nearly six years of official denial by the military top brass, a photo of a newly apprehended - abducted is a more apt term- Jonas Burgos, filed with the Philippine Army by the military officers who took him as he lunched at a Quezon City Mall in April 2007, was obtained from reliable sources by InterAksyon.com.

The photo shows a forlorn-looking, apparently dazed Burgos, who was 37 at that time. He looked shaken, obviously the result of a violent struggle with the five men and one woman whom two witnesses said had dragged him away as he shouted “Aktibista lang ako! (I’m simply an activist).”

Police investigation, pushed relentlessly by his mother Edita - the wife of the late world press freedom icon Joe Burgos Jr. - led to a license plate on the vehicle used to haul him off. The license plate belonged to a utility vehicle that had been parked inside a military camp in Central Luzon, having been seized by authorities in connection with an illegal logging case.

The military claimed the license plate was supposedly stolen by communist rebels, whom it also blamed for abducting Burgos as part of a supposed internal purge. It consistently denied there was ever an operation to get the activist-farmer, whose disappearance marks its sixth year on April 28.

Edita Burgos, through lawyer Ricardo N. Fernandez, went to various local and international forums to search for her son. Most important, she sought a writ of amparo from the Supreme Court, which ordered the Court of Appeals to convene a special investigating panel.

Last March 27, the Court of Appeals report that concluded the over three-year inquiry was disclosed to the press. It ruled that the 2007 abduction of Jonas Burgos was a military-sanctioned case of enforced disappearance, and held the Philippine Army “accountable” for it.

Army mum; AFP affirms HR policy; PNP to deepen probe

Reached for comment, the Philippine Army would not comment on the supposed mug shot that surfaced several years after he was seized in 2007.

"How can we comment on an ordinary photo that was taken from a camera and being distributed as a mug shot when in fact as far as we know, mug shots are being taken by the police and includes name and other markings," said Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, Army spokesman.

"We cannot comment properly on a single picture," he added.

The AFP, for its part, said it has yet to see a copy of the Court of Appeals ruling on the Burgos case, but said it would not tolerate human rights abuses committed by its personnel.

"The AFP condemns any act of violation of the basic and constitutional rights of individuals. We are doing every necessary step to ensure that all our personnel strictly follow the AFP rules, regulations and policy which are consistent with the internationally accepted agreements and laws," a statement from the AFP said.

The Philippine National Police (PNP), meanwhile, said it will further intensify its investigation into the case of Burgos and will comply with the CA ruling, reported on March 27. The CA, following an SC-directed inquiry that ran three years, ordered the PNP to exercise greater diligence in getting to the bottom of the case, which the appellate court tagged as a case of enforced disappearance, qualifying for a writ of amparo.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/58369/exclusive--mug-shot-boosts-case-that-jonas-burgos-was-in-military-custody