Exactly four years ago yesterday, Jonas Burgos, an activist and leader of a peasant group in Bulacan, a province in the Philippines, was forcibly taken by armed men while dining inside a restaurant in a busy mall in Quezon City. He was never heard from since then.

Witnesses and evidence point to the military as the perpetrators of the abduction. There was the plate number of the van used in the kidnapping that was later traced to the military. Recently, the Commission on Human Rights reported that there are eyewitnesses who identified at least one of the men who took Burgos. The man turned out to be Army Major Harry Baliaga Jr.

The identification of Baliaga, who remains in the military and who has not yet been prosecuted for the Burgos abduction, was the first real big break in the case. For the first time, at least in this case, somebody pointed to a military official who actively participated in the disappearance of Burgos. But Baliaga remains free and unmolested by the law.

Baliaga’s identification, and the Burgos case in general, is among the several cases that prove without doubt that the military, as a policy, is behind the abduction, torture and extrajudicial killings of thousands of activists in the Philippines. But nothing substantial has been done by the government to stop the killings, which continue to this day.

Edita Burgos, the mother of Jonas, wrote the letter below to Baliaga and released it to the press on April 27. A deeply religious and kind woman, Mrs. Burgos tries to appeal to the conscience of Baliaga as she continues her search for her missing boy.

Maj. Harry Baliaga Jr.
Philippine Army

Dear Mr. Baliaga,

Yes, I address you as “dear” because I look at you as a son of my Father. And since we have one father, then you are my brother.

I write because I know–for many reasons, security being the foremost—that the chances are remote that we will be able to meet and talk one-on-one.

I am not afraid to face you. Truth is, I would really want to look at your eyes as I ask you, “Where is my son? What have you done to him?” I want to see if the look you give me will deny or affirm your answer.

I write because, always, I live by what was taught me, that all must be given a chance to go back to Our Father if we have offended Him. Surely, logic tells me that you, in taking my son on that day, April 28, 2007 while he was having lunch, would not have acted on your own. Isn’t that how your system works? A superior orders his subordinates and a good soldier follows the order even if it is against the highest principle of life and freedom.

Tell me now…now that there is a chance that soon you will be behind bars…do you still see following orders in the same perspective?

I offer you this chance to redress this violation of a God-given right to be free.

Tell me, who has ordered you to get my Jonas? Give those who ordered him taken the chance to correct their ways.

Harry, listen to the innermost voice of your heart and correct the wrong done to this mother. Tell me where I can find my son. Do not wait when it is too late, when the consequences of an evil act will have been felt not only by you but by the next generations, for did He not promise “the sins of the father will be visited upon the heads of his children.”

I pray that you would take this opportunity to reflect and reveal the truth. The Lord in His Mercy calls all of us sinners back to Him. He will receive us with His fatherly love if we repent.

On Sunday, the feast of the Divine Mercy, I shall pray that you will be enlightened to tell the truth so that I can finally find Jonas.

May the Holy Spirit fill your heart and the hearts of the perpetrators of human rights violations. May you all be led to amend your ways. Lord have mercy on them. Lord have mercy on you.

Your Sister in Christ,

Edita T. Burgos