MANILA, Philippines -- Retired Army Commanding General Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino has denied involvement in the abduction of missing activist Jonas Burgos.

Tolentino also denied having told reporters that Burgos, a son of the late press freedom crusader Jose Burgos, was in the military?s order of battle, or list of enemies.

Tolentino, who retired in August 2007, also denied that the Army was in any way connected with the abduction, saying ?it is not the business of the Army to abduct people.?

Burgos, who went missing on April 28, 2007, was seen by several witnesses being forcibly taken by a group of men from the Hapag Kainan restaurant at the Ever Gotesco mall in Quezon City.

Tolentino was testifying at the Court of Appeals hearing on Tuesday on the writ of amparo petition filed by Jonas? mother, Edita, who has asked the court to issue the writ to allow her access to military camps, documents and personnel, and to direct the police to help her search for her missing son.

During direct examination by Ricardo Fernandez, Edita?s lawyer, Tolentino said he never claimed, nor did he know, that Jonas was the same person listed as ?Ka Ramon? in the order of battle.

He said that when he was asked by members of the media about the progress of the search for Jonas, he had replied there was an ongoing investigation and that his men had inquired from Bulacan residents about the missing activist.

?I told them there were people in Bulacan who were giving us clues to find out who Ka Ramon and who Ka Mina were,? he said.

He said his intelligence officer had informed him there was a Ka Ramon in the order of battle, but Ka Ramon was never identified as Jonas.

He said the Army also tried to follow up the leads concerning the identity of Ramon and Mina, but faced a blank wall.

He said he did not connect Jonas to Ka Ramon and could not have done so.

An August 2007 INQUIRER.net report quoted Tolentino as saying that Jonas was a member of the communist New People?s Army.

Fernandez pointed out that in May 2007, a month after Jonas went missing, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon wrote to the Commission on Human Rights saying that Jonas was a suspected member of the NPA where he was known as Ka Ramon.

Tolentino said he did not know anything about the Esperon letter.

Fernandez also cited a report in the Philippine Star in which Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres was quoted as saying that Jonas appeared to be an NPA member.