Mom of missing cop appeals to GMA for help

With dimming hopes that her policeman-son is still alive, a grieving mother sought the help of President Arroyo, saying she had no one else to turn to.

Magdalena Brusas, a 68-year-old widow, also appealed to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Leandro Mendoza and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Reynaldo Wycoco to inquire about the disappearance of her son, SPO1 Eugenio Rogelio "Roger" Brusas.

"Humihingi kami ng tulong sa Presidente (tungkol) sa pagkawala ng anak ko. Magkaroon ng linaw kung anong nangyari sa kanya.

Hindi na namin alam kung kanino at saan kami lalapit (We are asking the President regarding the disappearance of my son to know what happened to him.

We don’t know anymore to whom or where we should go)," Brusas told The STAR.

Roger, who was a member of the now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), was yet another name added to the growing list of involuntary disappearances linked to the elite but highly controversial unit headed by then PNP chief Panfilo Lacson.

The list also included missing publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito, and casino worker Edgar Bentain.

Brusas said they also approached Sen. Gregorio Honasan, a fellow Bicolano, about their problem.

Honasan, however, only managed to persuade Lacson to officially declare her son as missing.

On the other hand, Roger’s immediate superior, Senior Superintendent Cesar Mancao, head of the PAOCTF office in Luzon, ordered his missing agent marked AWOL (absence without official leave).

The mother said she learned that Roger was missing on March 18 last year, four days after he visited her at home in Novaliches, Quezon City.

A colleague of Roger, who requested anonymity, said they were at the Slums KTV on the night of March 14 when a telephone call came from a lady civilian agent of the task force, telling Roger to go to the Camelot Hotel for a mission.

Roger’s car was reportedly found abandoned at the Camelot Hotel compound in Quezon City.

The mother said the PAOCTF blotter listed him as missing as of March 18.

Brusas said they initially sought the help of Mancao, who assured them that he had already ordered an investigation into Roger’s disappearance.

At the same time, Mancao allegedly warned the Brusas family against talking to reporters, lest it might only make matters worse.

Mancao also allegedly told them that Roger’s salary and other benefits would be scrapped if they publicized his disappearance.

With Mancao’s warning, the Brusas family kept their problem close to their chest, hoping that Roger would one day suddenly appear at the door, alive and well.

But with the passing of time, their hopes began to flicker. "Umaasa akong buhay pa siya hanggang ngayon, subalit bilang ina, nangangamba din ako na wala na ang anak ko katulad ng nangyari kina Bentain, Dacer at Corbito (I still hope my son is still alive, but as a mother, I also fear that he is already gone, like Bentain, Dacer and Corbito)," Brusas said.

Statements allegedly leaked by the PAOCTF to reporters said that Roger could have been eliminated by a big-time drug syndicate for knowing too much about their illicit trade.

Shortly before he vanished, Roger allegedly confided to his wife Rosemarie that he wanted to return to his mother unit, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the PNP because he could no longer bear the orders given him by Mancao. – Jaime Laude, Christina Mendez