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MRS.
EDITHA BURGOS on Thursday presented before the Court of
Appeals (CA), which is hearing her petition for writ of
amparo, a confidential report of the Philippine Army
(PA) showing that her son Jonas, a suspected member of
the communist New People’s Army (NPA), “has been
neutralized.”
At the
continuation of the hearing for her petition, Mrs.
Burgos took the witness stand where she denied having
knowledge of Jonas’s alleged affiliation to the
communist movement.
She said
the confidential report was given to her by an active
member of the PA who is close to the
Burgos family. It originated from the Army’s 56th Infantry
Battalion addressed to the commander general of the
703rd Infantry Brigade in Arayat, Pampanga.
“I
promised him that I would not reveal his identity. He
said that he wanted to clear his conscience because he
got bothered,” Burgos said when asked by Assistant
Solicitor General Amparo Tang to reveal the identity of
the source of the report.
The 56th
IB was the same troop whose personnel have been accused
of masterminding Jonas’s abduction at a restaurant in
Commonwealth, Quezon City in April 2007.
The
report made reference to a radio message dated May 17,
2007, stating that 56th IB has “neutralized” Jonas,
alias Ramon/Raymond/Mon/Simon, while his wife, Marian,
alias Mina, went inactive in NPA activities.
The
report further showed that Jonas, who supposedly headed
the NPA’s provincial intelligence department in Bulacan,
underwent tactical investigation.
“I
cannot say yes because I would not have knowledge of
that,” Mrs. Burgos said when asked whether she knows
Jonas’s having aliases.
The
report, according to her, would show that her son was
indeed in the order of battle of the military on
suspicion that he is an NPA member.
Meanwhile, Jonas’s aunt, Carmen Bon, testified before
the CA’s 7th Division that there is a continuing threat
to the Burgos family after two agents of the Commission
on Human Rights (CHR) visited the family’s office in
Project 6, Quezon City, to inquire on the whereabouts of
Jonas’s wife and daughter.
Bon said
she was told that the CHR is reopening its investigation
on the Jonas case.
“I found
it unlikely that they are investigating the family and
not the suspects in Jonas’s disappearance,” Bon told the
Court.
Mrs.
Burgos said the CHR has not informed her that it is
reopening its investigation into Jonas’s case. She said
she met CHR Commissioner Purificacion Quisumbing in
December and the latter did not mention such a plan. |
