SC orders AFP to locate soldiers in Burgos case

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) ordered the military yesterday to disclose the whereabouts of soldiers accused of involvement in the disappearance of activist Jonas Burgos.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was ordered to “submit to the Court a confidential report on the present location and/or whereabouts of these military personnel and ensure that these military personnel can be located and served with the processes that the high court may serve, if any.”

The soldiers were identified in an “after apprehension report,” which was among the new pieces of evidence submitted to the SC by Jonas’ mother Edita Burgos last April 1.

The SC also directed the AFP to note the names of the members of “Task Organization-72 MICO and Task Organization-56 Infantry Battalion” listed in the sealed document submitted by Edita with her urgent motion.

Edita bared in her 11-page pleading that the documents would prove that an intelligence unit of the 7th ID and the 56th IB snatched her son on April 28, 2007 at the Ever Gotesco Mall, Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City.

The respondents in the writ of amparo petition filed by Edita – Lt. Harry Baliaga Jr., chief of staff Lt. Gen Emmanuel Bautista, Army commander, commanding officer of the 7th Infantry Division (ID) and Lt. Col. Melquiades Felicano, Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion (IB) commander at the time of the disappearance of Jonas – were also directed to file their comment within 10 days.

The high tribunal also ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to provide security and protection to Edita.

In a resolution, the high court granted the relief sought by Edita, who “fears for her personal security in light of the sensitive nature of newly discovered evidence” pointing to more military men involved in the enforced disappearance of her son.

The SC ordered the NBI to submit a report on the arrangements with the Burgos family within five days from receipt of notice.

In a decision promulgated on March 18, the Court of Appeals special division ruled that both the military and the police were accountable for Jonas’ disappearance.

But the appellate court, acting on Edita’s petition for amparo, pointed only to Baliaga as “responsible.”

Baliaga, an Army first lieutenant at the time, belongs to the 56th IB based in Bulacan province.

Edita said she believes there are more Army men involved in her son’s disappearance.

Jonas, a political activist and son of the late press freedom fighter Jose Burgos, was believed taken by the military because the license plate number of the vehicle used in the incident was traced to another vehicle impounded in 2006 at the 56th Infantry Battalion camp in Bulacan.

Defense and military officials vowed to comply with the court order.

“The defense department will cooperate and make sure that the people or the personnel needed in the investigation will come out and we will help in (uncovering) the true story of the Jonas Burgos case,” Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said in an ambush interview.

“We are not hiding them. We will make them available. We will cooperate with the legal system,” he added.

Armed Forces spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said they have not seen the court order.

The military’s Judge Advocate General, nevertheless, has been tasked to coordinate with the Solicitor General to secure a copy of the order.

“The AFP adheres to the rule of law in all its undertakings. It is one with the Filipino people in search for truth and justice,” Burgos said.  – With Alexis Romero