(Eagle News) — A Quezon City court on Thursday acquitted Major Harry Baliaga Jr. of arbitrary detention charges that stem from the abduction of activist Jonas Burgos over 10 years ago.
Branch 216 Presiding Judge Alfonso Ruiz II made the acquittal after ruling that the prosecution “failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the identity of (the) accused as the person who abducted and arbitrarily detained (Burgos).”
“No eyewitness testified to identify the accused Baliaga as one of those responsible for the disappearance of Burgos. In fact, none of the witnesses identified him in court,” Ruiz said.
As for the testimonies of supposed witnesses to the crime, Ruiz ruled that the information they provided in court was “based not on their personal perception but based on statements made by other persons who claimed to have witnessed the abduction.”
As such, he said these testimonies were “hearsay in nature.”
“This is a bad day. I feel so bad. But we will find Jonas,” Burgos’ mother Editha said in an interview with reporters after the promulgation.
She said that while they “respect” the decision of the court, “(they) believe in the higher court where justice will really be obtained.”
Baliaga was accused of leading the group that abducted Burgos on April 28, 2007.
He was last seen being dragged out of a restaurant in a Quezon City mall, and then being shoved into a vehicle.
Apart from Baliaga, also charged were then-Colonel Eduardo Año, now the military chief; Lieutenant Colonel Melquiades Feliciano; the military chief at that time, Hermogenes Esperon Jr., now the National Security Adviser; and retired generals Alexander Yano, Romeo Tolentino, and Avelino Razon.
The charges against them, however, were dismissed.
