The growing family of ‘Missing Tati’

By IYA ESPIRITU

Jonas Burgos, a farmer-activist, who was last seen on April 28, 2007 in a Quezon City mall and confirmed that he was abducted and under the custody of the military is still missing up to this date. Eighteen long years full of searching, longing and hoping that he will one day be with his loved ones. He was one among the listed names of desaparecidos under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration. Many activists and friends have supported the Burgos family in campaigning for justice nationally and internationally.  ‘Where is Jonas?’ became a prominent tagline. 

A significant question perhaps is who misses Jonas from the very day Jonas was missing. While the obvious answer would be his family, the more profound one is that Jonas’ family has grown as a result of a growing number of people, loved ones and total strangers alike, asking how and where he is.

Growing years

When Jonas didn’t come home for days, there was this two and a half year old little girl named Yumi who had been missing Tati (how she calls her father Jonas) every day of her growing years.  “My mom and family members said that I cried non-stop and kept on looking for my Tati”, Yumi said, now 20 years old. 

All of a sudden everything about Jonas came out as flashbacks and throwbacks. Yumi remembers the time when she was brought by her parents to playgrounds and parks.  Her Tati usually plays with her, placing her on his shoulders and doing wrestling games. Even when Jonas does his chores at home he would carry and bring along Yumi accomplishing things with much fun moments together.

According to Yumi, “when I grew up, I started to understand slowly.  My mom never really hid anything from me, she’d explain things to me as a kid in simple terms like Tati was taken by bad people, and that we have to be careful when we’re outside, that no one knows what happened to him so we’re still trying to look for him. Although I did get a bit mad about little things like, it’s unfair that I can’t sleep over at a friend’s house or like, I can’t explore malls with just friends.” But that’s when she was still younger and didn’t fully grasp the danger she might get into.  She never went to a daycare or nursery program so when her cousins went schooling she was most of the time hanging around the farm discovering her environment where they lived.

As she gets older explanations get more detailed, she understood things even better.  “I think my Mom did a really good job teaching me about the situation.  If she has hid everything from me I feel like I would ended up like one of those angsty teenagers that would lash out in movies.  Because of her I understood things well and I grew up fairly normal.”

Mary Ann, her mother, described Yumi as a daddy’s girl.  She was described by family and friends exactly like Jonas in terms of looks, attitude and behavior.  She became a good daughter who cleans up her stuff and does chores and errands for the Burgos family. ”I did pick up a few habits from my mom, having been raised by mostly just her, like moments of being too much organized or clean. But as a kid and even until now I had a bit of forgetting where I put my things and so it’s a little bit messy sometimes which my mom said that I got it from Tati,” she elaborated.

Playtime, artworks and relating to family activities took a very big part of Yumi’s exploration stage as a child.  Family support systems from her grandma, aunts and uncles, cousins were indeed established to help Mary Ann, a single mother to Yumi in order to raise her despite Jonas’ absence. The Burgos family became a more of an intact and collective unit to nurture the younger generation of their clan and have contributed in fighting for justice not only for Jonas but to all those victims of human rights violations.  Yumi was indeed lucky to have that exposure.

Away from home

Yumi spent her kindergarten, grade school and high school years at St. Paul University in San Miguel, Bulacan, the same school where the whole family has been going.  

Like other school children Yumi found a second home away from family.  She enjoyed being with new friends and discovering the outside world.  “School was pretty okay.  I had a good amount of friends and nobody really cared if I had a dad or not.  It was honestly a great time when I went to school because I felt a bit more normal, I just had fun and messed around like other kids.  Of course, I do get a bit sad every time I’m reminded that I don’t have a father like some kids but otherwise I got over it and just caused good old chaos with my friends”, she said.

“I have a few fun school stories that stick out. The very first one was that one time I accidentally led a revolution at kindergarten.  As a kid, well actually until now, I had a habit of forgetting where I put my things and so it’s a little bit messy sometimes. So even at school my things get scattered around, usually because I’m just always happy and excited that I was somewhere that wasn’t home.  So my teachers would always remind me to pick-up my stuff and put it inside my bag.  So this one, my kindergarten teacher told me ‘Yumi lagay mo na ang mga gamit mo sa bag’ (put your stuff inside the bag). As a kid for some reason I thought, ‘Oh ok! I’m cleaning up already, that means it’s time to go home.’  So when I was done cleaning-up suddenly bolted out of the classroom and my classmates all thought it was time to go home so they followed after me. Luckily my mom was about to check-up on me at the class so I encountered her out the hallway along with the rest of my classmates running right with me and our teacher chasing after us and yelling at us. In the end it was all sorted out and we were forced to go back to the classroom.  It was awesome though for some reason the whole class thought it was a great idea to follow after me without question.”  

But even if everything seems to be okay in school, Yumi said it doesn’t necessarily mean that nothing bad ever happened to her.  There were instances that she got bullied, not because of her situation but because school kids say that she was a bit weird. 

“My interests never really matched-up with other kids and I never shied away even if I was different.  I was a very confident child.  It was only at grade six  where I made a permanent friend that introduced me to his friends, so my first friend group was actually a group of really cool guys that introduced me to stuff like gaming and a few of the youtubers  I watch.  That friend group grew a bit more and I made a couple friends that were girls,” she said.   

When she was 12 years old, she graduated from elementary school. By this phase of her lids, she said she was missing her Tati. She would ask her mother, ‘dadating kaya si Tati?’ (will Dad ever come home?).  

She just went throughout the stage longing but becoming much of herself.  Later in high school she kept her close friends until now.  “With them I somehow felt like my situation was a bit more real but they helped me embrace it a bit more.  They kind of became like a second family to me too so I love them all a lot,” she said.

Yumi is now in her college years, she will be turning 21 on Nov. 18. “Last year I did get into a bit of a depression hole—but that’s mostly been building-up during the quarantine period.  Those lockdown years really took a hit on me and then the sudden change where I was suddenly in college and separated from everything I knew just made it even worse but I got over that luckily.  

“I’m good now and I’m about to attend college again this year at the Central Luzon State University from Fisheries to Human Resource Management (HRM),” she added.

Aspirations in life

Belonging to the Burgos family Yumi found herself not far from what her family does. She said, “I needed to do something big or difficult since considering my Dad and the rest of my family they are really great and talented people and I thought I should be able to match that.”

But she said she just wanted to live a simple life – like start a little coffee shop or bar and spend most of her days making fun drinks for people.  “Or I’ll be like the friendly barista/bartender you’ll talk to during your free time,” she said. 

She said her mother made her realize to do what makes her happy especially after going through a depression. “So I made the change and just decided I’ll take HRM.  Though I’m still definitely going to be helping people like me and I am still going strong in our family’s mission to get justice for my Dad by pursuing our Free Jonas Burgos Movement and those who disappeared like him.  I’ll help in all the ways I can but that doesn’t mean it has to consume my entire life.”

Recently, Yumi attended an Open Mic event sponsored by KLIMA Center of the Manila Observatory of Ateneo and Artista ng Rebolusyong Pangkultura (ARPAK) where she joined the painting session and the discussion of peasant, fisher folks and women issues affected by the environment crisis. She is planning to be an official member of ARPAK since she loves art.  

When asked if she considers herself as an activist she explained, “I do because activism simply means someone who speaks out for change.  The simple act of literally just tweeting out a statement or just straight-up saying something about a political or social issue then technically makes you an activist. But I do think Tati was a great man not because he was an activist but because he has helped out a lot of people just because he can.  Activism is in the blood I’d say probably.  I’m sure my family wouldn’t just accept injustice happening to us or to anybody else.  Or maybe it’s just human nature to want justice too.  I like to think I help some people too but I don’t think I’m up there with Tati yet, one day though maybe.”  

The missing Tati for 18 years now is what Yumi was saying in every phase of her life, “I am missing Tati.”  However, her story was a testimony of how our youth today must deal with —process difficulties, positively explore life with family and friends, making the best of yourself so you could be that someone who will be ready to help other people effectively.

Then again, she now belongs to a growing family of concerned citizens looking for the beloved Tati. (AMU, DAA)

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