Guilty verdict on Palparan ‘painfully long overdue’ — solon

The guilty verdict against retired Major General Jovito Palparan and two other Army officials due to the enforced disappearance of two University of the Philippines (UP) students is “painfully long overdue.”

This was the statement of Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate after the Malolos Regional Trial Court (RTC) on Monday found Palparan, Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado, Jr. and Staff Sgt. Edgardo Osorio guilty of kidnapping and serious illegal detention over the disappearance of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno in 2006.

READ: Palparan guilty of kidnapping UP students

The verdict, Zarate added, should be a “strong warning” to other human rights violators.

“This much-welcomed verdict is long overdue for this remorseless Butcher Palparan. This then should be taken as a strong warning to other human rights violators, then and now, that reckoning day will eventually come. This certainly is a good day for the human rights community, HR defenders and the families of victims,” the progressive solon said.

“Now that Palparan, et.al. have been found guilty, other human rights violators should be next,” Zarate added.

Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao, meanwhile, urged other victims to lodge complaints against human rights violators especially those from the military.

For her part, Kabataan Rep. Sarah Elago said the conviction of Palparan was “not the end all for the fight against the culture of impunity.”

“Karen and Sherlyn, like many other desaparecidos, remain to be surfaced. Palparan’s head honcho Arroyo is back in power through Duterte’s coddling, and terror and tyranny plague the nation,” she alleged.   /vvp

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