What could be more heartbreaking than a mother searching for her lost child? A mother searching for her child who did not leave by choice – perhaps. Jonas Burgos was dragged away in broad daylight on April 28, 2007 from Ever Gotesco mall. Witnesses say a group of five men and a woman took him in a car with plate number TAB 194. “Aktibista lang po ako! (I'm just an activist!)” Jonas shouted as he was taken away A day after that , he was able to call his mother. He sounded weak, as if drugged, and said “Naligo lang ako, mom. Kasama ko si Neil (I just took a bath, mom. I'm with Neil) .” Since then, his mother Edita Burgos and the entire family have left no stone unturned in their search for Jonas, to no avail. Jonas Burgos was an agriculturist who chose to leave the comforts of his life to join rural farmers in their struggle for true land reform. He and his siblings were brought up to stand up for their beliefs by their father, the press-freedom fightng journalist Jose B. Burgos, who had encouraged them to attend rallies. As children, Jonas and his brother, Sonny, would proudly declare “My father is in jail for his beief in democracy.” During their younger years, their mother would reluctantly allow them to attend rallies, standing by and keeping watch like a mother hen. “Don't hurt my sons. I'll prick you with my knitting needles,” she says now in the play Mrs. B, an excellent forty-five minute piece of a life – the life of Jonas Burgos, told in a monologue by his mother. But more than a play, it is the journey of all mothers who have sons like Jonas who have become desaparecidos - the disappeared. Edita Burgos is played by Gina Alajar and Bibeth Orteza in this month's staging of the play, directed by Socrates Jose. Jonas, who appears in the monologue in Mrs. B's thoughts, is played by Brian Arda. Mrs. Burgos, a devout Catholic as depicted in the play, describes the image of Mary stepping on a snake. In the play, Mrs. B says, “You are a liar, General Tolentino. What did you trade for your promotion? The life of my son! Do you have sons, general? The sins of the father will be visited upon the son.” In June 2009, soldiers implicated in Jonas's abduction – Noel Clement, Melquiades Feliciano and Edison Caga – were promoted to colonel by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The most powerful scene, perhaps, is when Mrs. B speaks about a dream where she sees Jonas being tortured. She cries out to him “Come here, I'll treat your wounds,” while pleading with the soldiers who deliver blow after blow to her son. “Enough, pity my son!” Jonas, in this scene is shown in fetal position, weeping while singing the Tagalog song, “Sa Ugoy ng Duyan.” Arda, who sees theater as an alternative venue for activism, prepared for the play by speaking with those who know Jonas personally. “I interviewed those who had a similar experience of being tortured, how did they resist. They told me their experience. I cried,” said Arda, referring to a line in the play. Mrs. Burgos says they plan to take the play to schools, since this is a different way of getting its message to a wider audience. “We should not stop, or lose hope. If we stop, we have given up the fight before it has even begun,” she said. She also said the play is especially timely, in the light of the 43 medical workers arrested and detained in Morong. After the play was shownThursday, Mrs. Burgos praised the Supreme Court for issuing a writ of habeas corpus for the 43 detainees. Orteza hopes they will be able to work out a schedule for more performances of Mrs. B, saying that although she and Alajar both have other projects lined up, she really wants to play the role. “I've been an activist myself for a time. You really want to do more things for your community, you want to be of service, so that even if you go, because we all have to go anyway,” she said. For these behind-the-scenes details, Mrs. B grabs the audience by the throat, without choking them. Instead of the usual in-your-face appeals to pity, Mrs. B is matter of fact, presenting the character as she is - a mother looking for her son, an activist, but her life as a mother goes on.
