By Priam Nepomuceno
MANILA, (PNA) — The Philippine Army Wednesday announced it has yet to receive documents from the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 216 regarding the arrest of Maj. Harry Baliaga, Jr., one of the military officers implicated in the 2007 abduction of militant activist Jonas Burgos, Jr.
“We have yet to receive the warrant of arrest against Major Harry Baliaga. The Army will enforce the warrant once received,” PA spokesperson Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said.
He added that Baliaga is currently assigned at the Headquarters Support Group of the PA.
“As to the commitment of Major Baliaga, we have yet to know as to whether said warrant of arrest is bailable or non-bailable,” Cabangbang stressed.
Quezon City RTC 216 Judge Alfonso Ruiz II ordered the arrest of Baliaga for kidnapping after the latter was positively identified in court by one of the witnesses as one of those who abducted Jonas on April 28, 2007 inside a mall in Quezon City.
In its March 18 ruling, the Court of Appeals “declared Major Harry A. Baliaga, Jr. responsible for the enforced disappearance of Jonas Burgos [and] declared the Armed Forces of the Philippines, particularly the Philippine Army, accountable for the enforced disappearance of Jonas Burgos.”
The CA cited a December 2011 Supreme Court ruling (Balao v. Macapagal Arroyo) to distinguish accountability from responsibility.
“Accountability… refers to the measure of remedies that should be addressed to those who have exhibited involvement in the enforced disappearance without bringing the level of their complicity to the level of responsibility… or who are imputed with knowledge relating to the enforced disappearance and who carry the burden of disclosure; or those who carry, but have failed to discharge, the burden of extraordinary diligence in the investigation of enforced disappearance,” the SC ruling read.
Baliaga, a 1st lieutenant at the time of the incident, was assigned to the 56th Infantry Battalion based in Bulacan province.
In March 2011, the Commission on Human Rights, with a directive from the SC to re-investigate the matter, concluded that the military had a hand in the disappearance and pointed to Baliaga as Jonas’ principal abductor.