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THE Commission on Human Rights on Thursday asked the
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police
(PNP) to find Jose Burgos’s son in five days starting from that
day.
“Give us the information. Give
us what happened to Burgos five days from today,” CHR Commissioner
Dominador Calamba told military and police officials.
The CHR invited the officials of
the AFP and PNP to attend a public hearing on the disappearance of
Jonas Burgos and his two other companions.
Meanwhile, the PNP Task Force
Usig chief, Director Geary Barias, said that operatives had traced
the license of the Toyota Revo van used in abducting Jonas, Melissa
Reyes and another unidentified companion.
Barias said the license plate
(TAB-194) of the van was registered to Mauro Mudlong of Norzagaray,
Bulacan.
But the license plate, according
to the Land Transportation Office, was originally assigned to a 1991
model Isuzu utility vehicle under Mudlong’s name.
Barias said that a team from the
Quezon City Police District had been dispatched to Norzagaray to
question Mudlong.
“We are giving attention to
this particular case because of the status of the person involved
whose father is considered a national figure in promoting press
freedom,” Barias said.
Witnesses described the vehicle
used in abducting the three activists as a maroon-colored Toyota
Revo van, which bears the said license plate.
On Wednesday police have released
an identikit of two suspects, a man and a woman, who were among a
group of eight people that forcibly took Jonas and his friends while
dining in a restaurant in Ever Gotesco Mall in Quezon City.
The woman was between 22- and
27-years old, 5’3” in height; the man was between 30- and
35-years old, 5’7” in height with medium built.
The witnesses, who asked not to
be named, told police that Jonas was forcibly taken out of the
restaurant by four to eight men who introduced themselves as
policemen.
The victims were dragged by the
suspects in the Revo van that was parked a few meters outside of the
restaurant and quickly sped away to unknown direction.
Two elite police units have
already been tasked to step in and helped the Quezon City Police
District in tracking down the whereabouts of the three missing
activists.
--Anthony Vargas
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