Burgos mom says ISAFP abducted Jonas

By Ronron
July 6, 2007

The mother of abducted agriculturist Jonas Joseph Burgos accused on Friday the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) as being behind the kidnapping last April 28, 2007.

Mrs. Edith Burgos said she has received information from reliable sources that intelligence agents were behind the abduction and forced disappearance of her son over his alleged alliance with the communist movement.

“The information that the kidnapping was conducted by intelligence agents has been with us for a long time now. But we just could not confirm it right away,” Burgos said yesterday.

She said she decided to spill the beans yesterday following publication of similar reports, quoting an alleged intelligence agent who wants anonymity.

“I am happy (with the coming out of the intelligence agent) because I have always believed that among those in said institution, there is always somebody who is God-fearing,” Mrs. Burgos said in Filipino.

But the fact that the abduction was allegedly carried out by intelligence operatives of the government makes her “very, very sad.”

And she is even sadder because Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. outrightly denied the allegation without the benefit of an investigation, said Mrs. Burgos.

In a news conference at Camp Aguinaldo yesterday, AFP Public Information Officer Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said not only Esperon is belying the report, but ISAFP chief Brig. Gen. Delfin Bangit as well.

“I have spoken with Gen. Bangit last night and he said that he had already conducted an internal investigation on the matter to find out if any of the ISAFP unit is involved. Conclusively, there is no unit or individual that is involved,” Bacarro said.

Bacarro quoted Bangit to have told him: “My conscience is clear, my organization had nothing to do with the abduction of Jonas Burgos.”

It can be recalled that during the investigation of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on the matter last May, ISAFP legal counsel Maj. Serme Ayuyao reported that the ISAFP did not conduct any operations last April 28 along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

Burgos was with a male and female companion inside a restaurant at Ever Gotesco Mall along Commonwealth Avenue when snatched. He was providing trainings then on agricultural technology among members of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) in Central Luzon.

Bacarro said Esperon has challenged the accusers to show up and substantiate their allegations.

“The chief of staff is saying that if they have sufficient evidence (against the ISAFP), then they should file appropriate cases in court. We are prepared to make available those that will be implicated,” Bacarro said.

But in the absence of “faces” of the accusers, Bacarro said the AFP will just look at it as another allegation of “interest groups that have negative intentions for the organization.”

Asked if the AFP indeed has profiled Burgos to be have links with the communist movement, Bacarrro said the matter is still being investigated.

But he “believes” that at the time Burgos was snatched, the military has no reason to do so.

Mrs. Burgos said that now that an intelligence agent admitted the ISAFP’s involvement in the incident, she would hope next that another person would show up to disclose the whereabouts of her son.

The ISAFP was last involved in a controversial abduction in May of last year, when they took five supporters of deposed President Joseph Estrada in Quezon City on allegations they were plotting rebellion against the Arroyo administration.

The involvement of ISAFP was initially denied by the AFP but was later admitted, saying one of them, Ruben Dionisio, was a member of the New People’s Army Special Operations Group tasked to assassinate four cabinet officials./DMS