Supreme Court prods CHR on abduction of Jonas Burgos

The Supreme Court has directed the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to get hold of the sworn affidavit of one of the so-called “Erap 5” who purportedly knew one of the abductors of missing activist Jonas Burgos.

In an en banc resolution, the high tribunal noted that Virgilio Eustaquio had previously told the CHR that one of the armed men who reportedly seized Burgos was also among the soldiers who abducted him and four other supporters of former President Joseph Estrada in 2006.

Burgos, son of the late freedom fighter and anti-Marcos publisher Jose “Joe” Burgos, was abducted from a Quezon City mall on April 28, 2007. He has remained missing.

“Considering the foregoing, the court resolves to require the (CHR) to undertake all available measures to obtain the affidavit of witness Virgilio Eustaquio,” the court said in its October 11 resolution, a copy of which was obtained by the Philippine Daily Inquirer Wednesday.

The high court also ordered the CHR to submit within 30 days a copy of its report and recommendations of its ongoing investigation of the disappearance of Burgos.

The court likewise directed the human rights body to furnish the Burgos family, the Court of Appeals, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police once it secured a copy of Eustaquio’s affidavit.