MANILA- The Supreme Court yesterday ordered the military to produce a prominent activist who was abducted two months ago by alleged government intelligence operatives.

The Supreme Court issued the writ of habeus corpus requiring military chief General Hermogenes Esperon, his aides as well as President Gloria Arroyo, "to produce Jonas Burgos."

It said Burgos should be produced on July 27, when a lower court is due to hold a hearing on the case and the military will be asked to "show cause" why he should not be immediately released from detention.

Burgos's mother filed the petition with the Supreme Court earlier this month, calling on Arroyo and top military officials to produce her son who was last seen being bundled into a car by unknown men in a Manila shopping mall in April.

His family and human rights groups have accused the military of being behind his disappearance, charging that it was part of a systematic campaign against the left.

The vehicle used in his abduction was subsequently traced inside an army camp.

The military has denied any involvement, but said it had evidence that Burgos, 38, of the leftist group Alyansang Magbubukid (Peasant Alliance), was a communist guerrilla leader belonging to the New People's Army.

The activist's mother Edith Burgos insisted the military had no proof her son was a guerrilla.

She added that even if he were, he was entitled to his constitutional rights.

"We are quite definite he is a member of the NPA," military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Ernesto Torres earlier told reporters.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a rebellion since 1969.

The government has been dogged by international criticism that it is not doing enough to stop a spate of extrajudicial killings of leftist activists and journalists.

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