MANILA, Philippines -- "Dear Lord, when will all this injustice end?" Edita Burgos lamented on learning of the promotion of three military officers linked to the abduction of her son, Jonas, who has been missing for the past two years.

In a statement on Thursday, the Burgos family said they considered the promotions of Lieutenant Colonels Noel Clement, Melquiades Feliciano and Edison Caga to full colonel as a reward, which might only result in more enforced disappearances of activists.

“I am truly scared because of the message this promotion delivers... will there be more enforced disappearances so that those who aim to be promoted will gain favor in the eyes of the superiors? The commander-in-chief maybe?" Burgos added, referring to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Burgos said she believed that these officers' promotions showed that enforced disappearances and abductions are a "state policy" under the Arroyo administration.

The three newly promoted Army officers had been implicated in the abduction of Jonas, son of the late press freedom icon Jose Burgos, after the license plate of the van used in the kidnapping turned up at the camp of the Army's 56th Infantry Battalion in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

The Burgos family scored Armed Forces civil relations service chief Brigadier General Gaudencio Pangilinan for saying that promotions in the military undergo a tedious process, which include making sure that no officer up for promotion has a pending case.

The family noted that it had filed a petition to cite Clement and Feliciano in contempt in the habeas corpus case they filed after the officers failed to explain to the court what happened to the license plate, which disappeared.

The case is pending in the Supreme Court.

Clement was the commanding officer of the 56th Infantry Battalion when a vehicle with the plate number TAB 194 was impounded. The same plate number was seen by witnesses on the vehicle used by Jonas' abductors in April 2007.

Feliciano was the 56th Infantry Battalion’s commander at the time of Jonas' disappearance.

Caga was the commanding officer of the 69th Infantry Battalion which took over the 56th IB's camp in Norzagaray and under whose watch the license plate of the impounded vehicle reportedly got lost.