‘Alipato at Muog’

I sat there in the dark stunned, frustrated and helpless. I couldn’t steel myself to leave even if I was well aware I had to rush out because I had a deadline to catch.

But it was nearly impossible to move. One had to gasp for air first after watching “Alipato at Muog,” a stunning and heartfelt documentary by filmmaker JL Burgos about his missing brother Jonas, a farmer and activist.

On Friday, Aug. 30, the International Day of the Disappeared, I squeezed in an hour and a half to watch the film at the UP Film Center because it might be my last chance to catch it, with the Cinemalaya Film Festival documentary getting an X rating from the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.

An X rating is tantamount to a public viewing ban.

But the film demands to be seen and the MTRCB is wrong in giving it an X rating. It said the movie “tends to undermine the faith and confidence of the people in their government.”

The irony is that it is precisely because of such blatant state censorship that citizens lose faith in government.

“Alipato at Muog” is a powerful yet profoundly sad film but it is a must-see for every freedom-loving Filipino; for every citizen who longs to see a society that is just and fair; for every family who cares about each and every member.

It is as much about a mother’s search for her missing son as it is a mirror on everything that was wrong in our society decades ago and to this day – from failed land reform, to income inequality, to elusive justice to authorities’ intolerance of dissent.

Jonas Burgos, son of press freedom fighter Joe Burgos, was last seen on April 28, 2007 at the Ever Gotesco Mall in Quezon City.

The film tells the story of the family’s painstaking search for their missing loved one.

For 17 years, Jonas’ mother Edita Burgos has looked inside body bags, at photographs of dead men; braved meetings with military officials inside military camps and led street protests in a grueling and painstaking search for her missing son, the third among her five children.

Jonas’ youngest brother JL even looked in mental wards to chase leads about Jonas, only to find himself at a dead end once more.

Searching for a loved one who has been