EDITA BURGOS, mother of missing farmer-activist Jonas Burgos, on Thursday filed criminal charges against four retired military and polcie generals and three other Army officers with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with the abduction and disappearance of her son four years ago.
In her 15-page affidavit-complaint, Mrs. Burgos accused the respondents Maj. Harry Baliaga Jr., Lt. Col. Melquiades Feliciano and Col. Eduardo Año of arbitrary detention.
Burgos was assisted by her lawyer Ricardo Fernandez Jr. in filing the complaint with the DOJ.
She noted that based on the report of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) released on March 15, Baliaga was positively identified by one of the witnesses as one of Jonas’s abductors, while Feliciano was Baliaga’s commanding officer in the 56th Infantry Battalion based in Bulacan. Año was then the commander of the Army’s Intelligence Security Group (ISG).
Jonas, according to witnesses, was forcibly taken by six men and a woman on April 28, 2007, while he was having lunch at the Hapag Kainan restaurant in Ever Gotesco Mall, Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City.
Witness Jeffrey Cabintoy, who was working as a busboy trainee at Hapag Kainan at the time of the incident, managed to identify Baliaga as one of Jonas’s abductors from a picture of military officers shown to him during investigation.
“Jonas Joseph Burgos was kidnapped by a team directly sanctioned by Colonels Feliciano and Año and comprised of members of the 56th IB and ISG under their direct control and supervision. Jonas was then illegally detained in a still-undisclosed location from April 28, 2007 until the present,” the complaint said.
“The physical restraint upon Jonas’s person directly resulted in the curtailment of his liberty,” it added.
On the other hand, Mrs. Burgos accused former Armed Forces chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon, former Army chief Romeo Tolentino, his successor Alexander Yano and former National Police chief Avelino Razon, of “lying” to her and to the public by “formulating a story that the New People’s Army was behind the abduction to cover-up for the wrongdoing of their men.”
Mrs. Burgos said the acts of the four generals constitute “obstruction of apprehension and prosecution of criminal offenders” as defined under Section 1 of Presidential Decree 1829.
“They have displayed concerted effort to mislead and prevent a true and complete investigation into the disappearance of Jonas Burgos,” Mrs. Burgos claimed.
Mrs. Burgos added that the respondents, knew fully well that the disappearance of her son was the result of a military operation intended to flush out suspected CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army) leaders whom they believed to be recipients of the information being released by a certain Lt. Dick Abletes of the 56th IB.
Earlier, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima directed prosecutors to initiate criminal proceedings against those allegedly involved in the abduction and disappearance of Jonas, son of the late press-freedom fighter Jose Burgos.
In Memorandum Order 001, de Lima specifically tasked Prosecutor General Claro Arellano to coordinate with the CHR and the Burgos family for the filing of appropriate complaint for preliminary investigation against Baliaga.
Baliaga’s alleged participation in Jonas’s abduction was established by the CHR through the testimonies of witnesses Jeffrey Cabintoy and Elsa Agasang—who positively identified him through the yearbook of the Philippine Military Academy and other group photos.
Cabintoy and Agasang were at the Hapag Kainan restaurant at the Ever Gotesco Mall on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City where Jonas was abducted by a group of men on April 28, 2007.
The CHR has recommended to the Supreme Court to order the DOJ to file kidnapping-enforced disappearance or arbitrary detention charges or both against Baliaga and to put Cabintoy and Agasang under the Witness Protection Program of the Department of Justice.
The CHR was earlier directed by the SC to conduct an extensive investigation into the disappearance of Burgos.
The Court noted that the National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group committed lapses in handling the investigation of the Burgos case.
The SC said the CHR’s report is necessary before it could rule on Mrs. Burgos’s petition seeking the reversal of the Court of Appeals’ ruling issued on July 17, 2008, which held that there was no sufficient evidence to blame the military for his son’s disappearance.
In its compliance report submitted to the Court last month, the CHR said there is “overwhelming evidence” as to the involvement of Baliaga in Jonas’s abduction.
