THE Court of Appeals yesterday issued a subpoena to Lt. Col. Melquiades Feliciano, commanding officer of the Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion, to testify today at 10 a.m. on the disappearance of activist Jonas Burgos in April last year.

The summons arose from the writ of amparo filed by Jonas’ mother, Edita, before the CA Seventh Division.

After hearing the testimony of Feliciano, the court will determine the need to issue subpoenas to Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and Army Commander Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano, stated a two-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Rosalinda Asuncion-Vicente.

The Office of the Solicitor General earlier opposed the subpoena of Feliciano, saying Burgos lawyers apparently thought the Army officer ordered the abduction because he was the only one relieved from his post. Feliciano was relieved, the Office said, because he was the one with the highest level of liability among the three commanding officers tagged in the loss of the license plate TAB-194.

This same plate was seen by witnesses attached to a Maroon Toyota Revo reportedly used as getaway vehicle of Jonas’ abductors when he was forcibly taken while having lunch at the Hapag Kainan restaurant in Quezon City on April 28 last year.

Aside from Esperon, Yano and Feliciano, respondents in the petition for amparo were PNP chief Avelino Razon Jr. and Commission on Human Rights Commission chairwoman Purificacion Quisumbing. – Evangeline de Vera