Officer tied to Burgos abduction undergoing court-martial
By Leila Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:30:00 02/05/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- An army lieutenant the family of missing activist Jonas Burgos has linked to his disappearance is undergoing a military trial on charges of passing information to communist rebels, a ranking officer testified Monday.
But Lt. Col. Melquiades Feliciano, commanding officer of the 71st Infantry Battalion, denied knowledge of any link between the decision of the Army to arrest 2nd Lt. Dick Abletes and the disappearance of Jonas.
Feliciano was testifying at Monday’s hearing before the Court of Appeals of a petition filed by the Burgos family for a writ of amparo -- a legal weapon intended to compel law enforcers to take action to solve killings and disappearances and, if warranted, hold them accountable.
Feliciano told the court he had no information that Jonas was a member of the communist New People’s Army, although he had seen the name “Ka Ramon” in the military’s order of battle, or list of enemies.
To support its contention that the military was behind the abduction of Jonas, the Burgos family cited in its petition a letter of Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. which claimed that Jonas was an NPA member who went by the name “Ka Ramon.”
Jonas, a son of the late press freedom fighter Joe Burgos, was abducted on April 28, 2007, from a Quezon City mall.
Members of the Army’s 56th IB were linked to Jonas’ disappearance because the unit had custody of a vehicle that bore the same license plate (TAB-194) as that of the vehicle used in the abduction of Jonas.
Feliciano headed the 56th IB from January to May 2007. He denied any involvement in Jonas’ disappearance.
Passing on secrets
In his testimony before the court’s seventh division, Feliciano said Abletes was being court-martialed after the lieutenant was caught meeting with two suspected NPA members, a man and a woman.
“There was one incident where he was seen talking face to face with identified suspected members of the CPP. He was overheard saying things against the organization (the military),” Feliciano said.
Abletes was also heard saying he was willing to give information about the location of military troops, according to Feliciano.
Feliciano denied that Abletes’ arrest was connected to Jonas’ disappearance.
“It has nothing to do [with it],” Feliciano said, replying to a question from Ricardo Fernandez, lawyer of Jonas’ mother, Edita.
A Philippine Daily Inquirer report last July quoted a source as saying that Jonas’ was Abletes’ contact and that Jonas was abducted because he received important information about the military.
The court also questioned Feliciano on seeming discrepancies between a written statement he gave the court and a statement he previously gave to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
In his statement to the CHR, which is also investigating Jonas’ disappearance, Feliciano named 1Lt. Jaime Mendaros Jr. as the commandant of the 56th IB.
‘Jonas -- neutralized’
But in his statement submitted later to the court, Feliciano identified the battalion’s commandant as 2nd Lt. Narinel Sillonar.
The Burgos family previously said that Mendaros was the one who had recommended the deletion of Jonas’ name from the military’s list of NPA members.
That list showed that Jonas was also known as “Ramon, Raymond or Simon.” Written beside his name was the word “neutralized.”
Feliciano was suspended last May during the military’s investigation of the alleged loss of license plate TAB-194.
“There are some discrepancies in the two statements ... which of the two statements is correct?” asked Justice Remedios Salazar-Fernando.
Feliciano said that his statement submitted to the appellate court was the correct one. He also said that his statement submitted to the CHR was not initialed, which was why it was not the final one.
“Probably there was a mistake,” he said.
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