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FORMER
Army commander Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino on Tuesday
denied that he or any of his men were involved in the
disappearance of Jonas Burgos, political activist and
son of press freedom fighter Jose Burgos Jr., almost a
year ago.
Tolentino, now working as an undersecretary at the
National Security Council, was summoned to testify in
the ongoing hearing on the petition for writ of amparo
filed by Jonas’s mother, Edita Burgos, to reveal what he
knows about the names “Ramon,” and “Mina” that cropped
up during the military’s initial investigation into
Jonas’s case.
He
admitted mentioning the names of Ramon and Mina in an
interview conducted by Newsbreak magazine in connection
with Jonas’s disappearance.
He
recounted that when he ordered his men to go around
Bulacan province to check on the background of Jonas,
the people they interviewed who refused to be identified
told them to check instead who Ka Ramon and Ka Mina are.
But,
Tolentino said his agents failed to gather more
information that would link Jonas to Ka Ramon and Ka
Mina as the people were afraid to talk.
“We made
an informal investigation a long, long time ago and that
is the only thing that we had. The people are afraid of
giving information about Ka Ramon and Ka Mina. It was a
blank wall after that,” Tolentino said.
Tolentino said that until after his retirement in
August, he has not learned about the true identity of
“Ka Ramon” and his relationship to Jonas.
Tolentino said he could not recall whether he gave
orders shortly before his retirement to investigate
whether Ramon and Jonas were one and the same person.
Although
he sympathized with the mother and other relatives of
Jonas, Tolentino said he could not do anything but to
order his men to cooperate with the agencies
investigating Jonas’s case.
He also
denied that the Army would resort to abducting people
just to neutralize the operation of the New People’s
Army (NPA).
“It is
not the business of the Army to abduct people. Even my
car was implicated [in Jonas’s abduction], maybe those
giving the information were doing it in bad faith,”
Tolentino added.
Mrs.
Burgos’ lawyer, Ricardo Fernandez, said Tolentino is
just trying to cover up for the alleged involvement of
his men belonging to 56th Infantry Battalion in the
abduction and disappearance of Jonas.
Fernandez noted that Tolentino’s claim that he does not
know who Ka Ramon is contradicts the statement of Gen.
Hermogenes Esperon, Armed Forces chief of staff, that Ka
Ramon and Jonas is one and the same person.
The CA’s
next hearing on the case is set in May where another
Army officer Col. Eduardo Año is expected to testify.
Earlier,
the CA Former Seventh Division ruled that the
testimonies of Tolentino and Año are vital in the
resolution of the Burgos case in light of the testimony
of Capt. George Ventayen at the hearing held on April 7,
2008 in Baguio City.
Ventayen,
the prosecutor in the case of 2Lt. Dick Abletes,
testified in executive session on April 7, in Baguio
City on the charges against the latter and his evidence
in prosecuting the case.
He
admitted that Abletes has been charged with three
violations of the Articles of War for passing off
classified information to two members of Communist Party
of the Philippines-NPA.
The
prosecution claimed that Tolentino and Año’s testimonies
are needed considering that Ventayen has admitted that
one of the two members of the CPP-NPA who received the
working order of battle from Abletes was identified as a
certain “Liza,” which is the alias of one of three
witnesses of the police in the Jonas case.
Mrs.
Burgos said that Liza is in fact Melissa Reyes, who was
also reported missing on April 28, 2007 at the same time
Jonas was reportedly abducted.
Año is
the head of the Intelligence Service Group of the Army
mentioned in the Newsbreak article who admitted that
Abletes was caught on March 26, 2007 giving classified
documents to a member of the CPP-NPA. |
