Edith Burgos Speaks on Behalf of the Still-Missing Jonas Burgos in NYC
New York-- Edith Burgos, the mother of missing Filipino agriculturalist Jonas Burgos, and widow of the late Filipino press freedom-fighter Joe Burgos, will be coming to the US in March for a month-long national speaking tour in at least 7 cities across the US. Her first stop will be New York City, where the NY Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP) will be holding a community benefit dinner and welcome for her on Saturday, March 1st, 6pm at the BAYANIHAN Filipino Community Center on 40-21 69th Street in Woodside.
The national speaking tour is being sponsored by GMA WATCH, a national grassroots advocacy network that has been actively participating in church lobbying efforts after the US Senate hearing last March 2007 on extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the Philippines. NYCHRP is a founding member of GMA WATCH.
Ms. Burgos, a secular Carmelite (a member of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites ), has been traveling extensively on speaking engagements to call public attention to the case of her son, who was abducted by elements of the Philippine military on April 28, 2007 and remains missing to this day. Jonas Burgos, 36, is a land rights activist who was affiliated with the Alyansang Magbubukid ng Gitnang Luzon (AMGL) or Alliance of Peasants in Central Luzon, a local affiliate of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) or Peasant Movement of the Philippines.
Many believe Jonas was abducted because of his activism and support for genuine agrarian reform, as well as organizing other peasants and farmers to fight for their rights through peaceful means.
Ms. Burgos has testified to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva that she still believes her son is at the brutal hands of the Philippine military. Jonas Burgos' case was also numerously referenced in the 2007 UN report of Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings and Summary Executions, who released 3 reports on the Philippines last year. Burgos is set to have a private meeting with Alston during her brief stay in New York to update him on Jonas' case.
"We are concerned that not enough is being done for Jonas' case by the Philippine government," states Jamie Mapa, a member of NYCHRP and Jonas' Burgos' first cousin. "We have a moral responsibility to seek justice for the victims of human rights violations in our motherland."
Shortly after New York, Burgos is set to travel to Washington DC, where she will attend the Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD), an annual ecumenical gathering of Christian Church representatives that speak on global human rights, social, economic, and political concerns. She will make her way westward from there ending up in California by the end of March.
As a result of national grassroots advocacy efforts from various church groups, the 2008 Appropriations Bill included specific restrictive language on US military aid to the Philippines, with recommendations for the Arroyo government by Alston himself. Many are concerned such aid has been directly contributing to training a Philippine military that has been guilty of perpetrating these human rights violations, which includes over 890+ victims of killings and 300+ victims of abductions.
The Arroyo government is currently under intensifying public scrutiny in Manila for exposed graft and corruption. An initial protest calling for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo' s resignation topped at 15,000 last Friday, and the protests are only projected to get bigger as more social unrest unfolds.
Joe Burgos, Edith's late husband, was also a significant press figure that defied censorship under the martial law of the Marcos dictatorship in the 1970's. The late Burgos founded the popular newspapers We Forum and Malaya. For helping restore democratic processes to the country, Joe Burgos was honored as a World Press Freedom Hero Awardee by the International Press Institute in Boston in 2000.
Ms. Burgos, whose family continues to face political harassment in the Philippines, will be speaking on behalf of the Desaparacidos, a rapidly growing national organization of families and loved ones of the disappeared in the Philippines. She will be traveling with her daughter, Virginia Ann, and Mervyn Toquero of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP).
KAPAYAPAAN, the Edith Burgos Community Benefit Dinner will have an entrance fee of $20.00 per person. RSVPs are encouraged. For more information or to RSVP, send an email NYCHRP at nychrp@gmail. com. ###
`RIGHTS’ screening at Cinekatipunan
You are all invited to come to Cinekatipunan/Mag:net Cafe on September 28, 2007, Friday, 5:00-7:00 PM for the screening of RIGHTS, an omnibus film by:
Pam Miras: THE GOOD NEWS
Mike Dagnalan: DIYARYO
JL Burgos: DEFINITION 1
King Catoy: UNANG ARAW
Jon Red: IGNORANTE
John Torres: ONE TILTED SCREEN
Sunshine Matutina: JUAN, TAKBO! and THE DISAPPEARED
Paolo VIllaluna: TANGA
Sigrid Andrea Bernardo: BANGKO O EROPLANO,LOST AND FOUND
RJ Mabilin: HUMAN RIGHTS WORKER
Kiri Dalena: WHERE IS JONAS? and ADELISA
Sigfreid Barros Sanchez: DUKOT and KARNE
Nino Tagaro: IKAW?
'RIGHTS' is a collection of 30 second to 2 minute shortvideo/public service advertisements about the present human rights situation in the Philippines.The RIGHTS project was initiated last June by the Free Jonas Burgos Movement and Southern Tagalog Exposure as a response. The material, however, was rated "X" by the Movie & Television Rating and Classification Board (MTRCB) last 18 September 2007. The FJBM/IFC filed an appeal to the MTRCB for re-classification. Screening will start at 5:00 PM.
`RIGHTS’ rated X by MTRCB
'RIGHTS', a collection of public service advertisements on human rights produced by The FreeJonasBurgosMovement, Southern Tagalog Exposure and KARAPATAN, was classified "X" by the Movie & Television Review & Classification Board (MTRCB) Tuesday, 18 September 2007.
In a letter to the Philippine Independent Filmmakers Cooperative dated 19 September, MTRCB Chairman Consoliza Laguardia said 'RIGHTS' was rated "X" and not for Public Exhibition for the following reasons: "Scenes in this film are presented unfairly, one-sided, and undermines the faith and confidence of the government and duly consituted authorities, thus, not for public exhibition."
'RIGHTS' was slated to be shown at the INDIE SINE, Robinsons Galleria, Cinema 3 tomorrow, 21 September for SHOOTING RAGE and DISQUIET: Transgression and Transformation in Philippine Cinema after the First Quarter Storm. The event also aims to present the state and direction of today's independent filmmakers in view of the continuing and emerging social and political issues.
Although the shorts were rated "X", the forum and screening of SAKADA (a Behn Cervantes film banned during the Marcos Regime) will push through tomorrow.
Southern Tagalog Exposure & Free Jonas Burgos Movement, in cooperation with the Independent Filmmakers Cooperative,
