Danilo Lim to Palparan: Surrender or be hunted like vermin

Deputy Customs Commissioner for Intelligence Danilo Lim. INQUIRER file photo

Deputy Customs Commissioner Danilo Lim on Wednesday urged fugitive retired Major General Jovito Palparan to surrender or “be hunted down like vermin.”

Lim, a former Army officer who led several coups against the government, said Palparan should learn from the fate suffered by former Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi.

“Despite calls for Gaddafi to surrender and despite a ‘people’s manhunt’ mounted against him, he refused to heed the call of justice. As a result, Gaddafi was hunted down like a rat when he was finally cornered in a sewer, pleading in vain for his life,” Lim said.

“Does Palparan want to suffer the same fate as Gaddafi? He is surely courting it with his continued defiance of the law,” Lim said.

“Face the music or be hunted down like a vermin, ” Lim told Palparan.

Palparan who went into hiding after a court ordered his arrest for his alleged involvement in the abduction of University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño in 2006.

“History is not kind to people who were responsible for the death of many innocent lives. I hope Palparan has read enough history books to know the common fate suffered by dictators and butchers. I hope he surrenders soon or face the people’s wrath,” Lim said.

Lim was an Army captain who was one of the ring leaders of the bloody 1989 coup against the government of President Corazon Aquino, the mother of President Aquino. He was imprisoned for two years and released through an amnesty during the Ramos administration. He was dismissed as head of the elite First Scout Rangers regiment in 2006 and was jailed for four years for leading a military uprising against the Arroyo government. He was released on bail in 2010 and made an unsuccessful run for the Senate in the line-up of Mr. Aquino.

Lim said Palparan was only further endangering himself by refusing to come out of hiding. He said the “safest place in the world for Palparan is the prison cell.”

“He should just come out and answer for his transgressions. His decision to go into hiding is only putting him in harm’s way. If he fears for his safety, I am sure he can find refuge and comfort in jail,” Lim said.

“If his former political patron, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is doing fine under detention, I am sure Palparan will have no problem adjusting himself behind bars,” Lim said.

Palparan had tried to leave the country late last year on a Singapore Airlines flight but was stopped by immigration personnel.