Metro

Index tumbles 48 pts on lack of fresh leads

May 1, 2007 | 1:40pm

A son of the late journalist Jose “Joe” Burgos Jr. and two other companions have gone missing and are believed to have been abducted in connection with their work for a militant farmers group.

Jonas Burgos, 38, was reported missing by his mother, Edith. She told reporters that she has not heard from her son, since Saturday last week, the last time friends saw him in Quezon City.

Edith said she decided to seek help from members of the press to find her son for fear that he could have been abducted by agents working for paramilitary groups from Central Luzon.

Jonas was believed to be with two other companions at the time of his reported disappearance: Melissa Reyes and an unidentified male companion. Reyes’ relatives have also reported that she is missing.

Jonas’ family reportedly tried to contact him through his cell phone the whole night of April 28, but it was only at 10:46 a.m. the next day that they received messages from his mobile phone that did not make sense.

Jonas reportedly sent a text message that he was on his way home from SM North Edsa at 6 p.m. on the night he disappeared.

His family was able to talk to him on the phone, but they said his voice sounded drowsy and his words did not make sense. It was as if he was drugged, said his mother.

Edith said Jonas, an agriculture graduate of Benguet State University, has been helping poor farmers in Bulacan and was actively giving technical training to members of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (AMB), an affiliate organization of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).

Several AMB members have been reported killed and abducted, allegedly by military agents in Bulacan, over the past years.

"We hold the military accaountable...We demand that they be surfaced immediately, safe and alive," KMP spokesman Carl Ala said.

Reports also indicated that the younger Burgos, a resident of Tandang Sora, Quezon City, has been helping some party-list groups, the re-electionist Anakpawis and Bayan Muna. These groups have been classified by the Armed Forces of the Philippines as “enemies of the state.”

Joe Burgos was a pioneer of the alternative press during the martial law years of the Marcos regime, setting up the We Forum, Malaya and Midday in 1977. He was arrested in 1982 after military personnel raided the We Forum office.

He was honored by the International Press Institute as one of the "50 Press Freedom Heroes of the Century." He died of a lingering illness in 2003.

– With Cecille Suerte Felipe