Jovito Palparan Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
One million pesos in cold cash awaits anyone who can furnish the authorities with information that will lead to the capture of retired Major General Jovito Palparan Jr.
“There are good leads in the ongoing search for Palparan, but we want to be very sure. We want this to be over and done with the soonest,” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima told reporters Thursday.
“If we let him continue hiding, the chances of arresting him become slimmer. He may slip out of the country,” she said in Filipino.
De Lima said she and Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo decided to double the reward money to hasten the arrest of the fugitive former military official, who has not been seen in public since he and three others were charged two weeks ago with the kidnapping of University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño.
De Lima said the bounty for Palparan’s arrest was the government’s “complementary move” to the joint manhunt operations of the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation.
PNP Director General Nicanor Bartolome said in an interview there was no information on Palparan’s whereabouts but tracker teams were pursuing the hunt.
Action withheld
De Lima earlier said that Palparan had been sending “feelers” for his surrender, but efforts to actually take him into custody proved futile.
Palparan has been charged with kidnapping and serious illegal detention for his supposed role in the disapperance of Empeño and Cadapan, who have been missing since 2006.
Charged with Palparan are Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado Jr. and M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario of the 7th Infantry Division based in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija province, and S/Sgt. Edgardo Osorio, who was assigned to the Army’s 24th Intelligence and Security Group in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.
Anotado and Osorio have surrendered to the authorities. Palparan and Hilario remain at large.
Palparan has been tagged by activists as a “berdugo” (butcher) for his purported role in extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances of activists.
The Bulacan judge handling the kidnapping cases has said she could not act as of now on an omnibus motion filed by Palparan and his coaccused seeking the recall of the arrest warrant and the suspension of the proceedings against them.
Hearing on Feb. 6
In an order released on Monday, Judge Teodora Gonzales of Bulacan Regional Trial Court Branch 14 said the court had no jurisdiction yet over Palparan and Hilario because they have yet to surrender or be arrested.
“Considering that (Palparan and Hilario) are still at large, the court has no jurisdiction over the person of said accused; the court declared that the omnibus motion concerning them will not be acted upon unless they are arrested or they voluntarily surrender,” Gonzales said.
She set for February 6 the next hearing of the case to give parties time to file their respective comments and other pleadings.
Gonzales also asked the lawyers of Anotado and Osorio to comment within 10 days from Monday on the Department of Justice’s motion for the court to reconsider its Dececmber 23 decision transferring them to the military’s custody.
The justice department wants Anotado and Osorio, who were briefly held at the Bulacan provincial jail, detained at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
Demand for justice
Palparan was last seen in public last December 19 when Bureau of Immigration personnel at Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in the Clark Freeport stopped him from boarding a plane for Singapore, citing his inclusion on the justice department’s watch list.
During Monday’s court hearing, members of a group supporting the families of Empeño and Cadapan gathered in front of the court with placards demanding swift justice for the two missing students.
About 100 members of Desaparecidos (Pamilya ng Desaparecidos para sa Katarungan) appealed to the court to reconsider its decision placing Anotado and Osorio under military custody.
“We believe that they (Anotado and Osorio) should be put in a regular detention facility, without any special treatment,” Concepcion Empeño and Erlinda Cadapan, the mothers of the missing students, said in a joint statement.
“We continue to ask the Filipino nation to join us in the people’s manhunt for Palparan and Hilario. If we let human rights violators walk free, more violations can happen in our country,” they said.