Gov't to appeal CA ruling on Burgos report

(Updated 5:35 p.m.) The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) will appeal the Court of Appeals's decision insisting the release of the military fact-finding report on the disappearance of Jonas Joseph Burgos. Assistant Solicitor General Amparo Tang, OSG officer-in-charge, told dzBB radio that the government will file a motion for reconsideration before the appellate court's eighth division. Tang was quoted as saying that the OSG will argue that Provost Marshal Arturo Abadilla, who had refused to disclose the contents of the report to the CA, does not have the authority to relay the information in the document. Abadilla previously said he had submitted the report to military chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. In a separate interview, Tang claimed that the new CA ruling was "really not that damaging to us." The Provost Marshal's report allegedly discussed the administrative liability of the 56th Infantry Batallion over the loss of car plate TAB-194, which was attached to the Toyota Revo utility vehicle used in Burgos' abduction. The plate was traced to an impounded vehicle that had been under the custody of the 56th IB in Bulacan. Radio dzBB said CA magistrates took notice that Abadilla carried the document during one court appearance, but refused to provide the details of the report. Tang said the OSG will have no other recourse but to comply with the CA decision should the tribunal block their appeal. The OSG serves as counsel to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Esperon and other officials blamed for Burgos' abduction last April 28 at a shopping mall in Quezon City. For his part, lawyer Ricardo Fernandez, counsel for Jonas' mother Edita Burgos, expressed elation over the development even as he chided the government for being "bent on keeping the report from us." "We are happy about the decision made by the Court of Appeals because we will get to know what findings the provost marshal had made," Fernandez told GMANews.TV in a phone interview. Asked if the Burgos camp would seek legal action against Esperon should the military chief insist on keeping the report, Fernandez firmly answered: "Yes." Fernandez said the Judge Advocate General's Office (JAGO) had informed him that "there is no security issue in the report. The JAGO told this to us even before the habeas corpus petition was filed before the Court of Appeals." Earlier reports said quoted Edita as saying that the JAGO cited two "restraints" in withholding the document. First, the Provost Marshal's report was a "classified matter" and second, it might cause "unwarranted injury" to an individual. Fernandez said "classified" information was different from "national security" concerns. - GMANews.TV