At a forum in Quezon City, Edita Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos, said “token moves” by the government -- such as the creation of Task Force Usig, the special police unit tasked to investigate extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, and investigations by the Commission on Human Rights -- are all part of a “cover-up” by the Arroyo government.

Although she agreed with the observation of the European Union that the incidence of human rights violations in the country has gone down, Burgos said credit for this should not go to the government but to the efforts of non-government organizations and human rights advocates.

“In short, the token moves of the government have not really helped. In fact, they are part of a cover-up, and I say this because it’s true to the case of Jonas and I think it’s also true to the case of the others here,” she said.

Burgos lamented that, almost a year after her son’s disappearance, their family is still searching for Jonas, haunted by the thought of his being tortured, hungry, and cold.

The young Burgos went missing April 28 last year after he was abducted from a Quezon City mall by what his family and human rights groups believe were military agents.

“It will be one year in April 28, I have not found my Jonas. We’ve exhausted all the means available to us in this democratic country. And so what is left to us? To look for relief from outside the Philippines. And that’s not only true to Jonas but also true to the other victims,” said Burgos, who elevated her son’s case before the UN.

“Now why do we go to the UN? Because we hope that eventually, we would find justice. We know that after sometime, our chances of recovering our loved ones alive gets slimmer and slimmer,” she said.

Burgos also hoped the UN would be able to help the victims’ families pressure the government into not only returning their loved ones but also get those responsible for their abductions, torture and captivity, “to pay for what they have done, to right the wrong that they have done.”

“That’s why we keep on talking. To give them [perpetrators] a chance to follow their conscience and come clean, return our loved ones back to us, or we will not go away. We will say we will be a sore in your sight,” she added.

Burgos said they can only find their loved ones once the truth comes out.

“Yes. We demand the truth. We want truth to come out. That’s the only way we can find our loved ones,” she said.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080403-128170/Families-of-desaparecidos-pin-hopes-of-justice-on-UN