P1-M bounty no help to NBI so far in finding Palparan

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines—Unable to find retired Major General Jovito Palparan  the past 18 days, the National Bureau of Investigation official tasked by a Bulacan court to arrest him is asking the public to help in the manhunt.

Ricardo Diaz, NBI director for Central Luzon, said he aired the appeal not because the NBI was feeling helpless but because Palparan, who is facing charges of the kidnapping and illegally detaining two University of the Philippines students in Bulacan in 2006, is not an ordinary fugitive.

“It’s really hard to search for a [military] general,” Diaz said on Saturday.

Palparan and three other soldiers have been charged with kidnapping and serious illegal detention in the disappearance of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño. Two of his co-accused, Lt. Col Felipe Anotado and S/Sgt. Edgardo Osorio, are in the military’s custody and detained at Fort Bonifacio. A fourth accused, M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario, said to be Palparan’s right-hand man, has yet to be arrested.

“This person is different because he knows the craft of law enforcers,” Diaz said of Palparan, who went into hiding after Bureau of Immigration personnel at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in the Clark Freeport stopped him from boarding a plane bound for Singapore on last December 19.

“Kay Palparan yata ako madadale (It looks like I’ll be a failure with Palparan). But remember, I tracked down his wife and two [adult] children in a house he has not declared as his in Pasig City,” Diaz said of the December 30 raid by the NBI.

On January  6,  searches by NBI agents of farms around Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, the Philippine Army’s biggest camp, following reported sightings of the former general there, were fruitless.

Fort Magsaysay was Palparan’s base as commander of the 7th Infantry Division from 2005 until his retirement on September 11, 2006.

A farm caretaker in Barangay Pesa in Bongabon town denied reports that Palparan owned  the place. The former general was not seen there, said Diaz.

He was not found either on a poultry farm owned by a retired Army general in General Tinio town.

Diaz said the hunt for Palparan was not solely an NBI concern because the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Department of Justice were directly involved in it.

“The [Philippine National Police] has standing orders from Secretary [Jesse] Robredo to help us in the NBI. He has assigned a senior officer and the [Criminal Investigation and Detection Group] to assist us,” Diaz said.

Judge Teodora Gonzales of the Regional Trial Court Branch 14 in the City of Malolos in Bulacan has not imposed a deadline for serving of the arrest warrant, Diaz said.

“It is understood that it is ASAP (as soon as possible). But I need to locate him,” he said. “Palparan’s like the Grinch who stole my Christmas and New Year. I had not been able to spend [the holidays] with my family,” Diaz said.

He said any information that would lead to Palparan’s arrest may be given to him through telephone number (045) 455-2809 or his email, [email protected]. He said he can also be reached through his accounts on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.

“The whole country should not depend on me. It’s looking for one among 90 million Filipinos. I need help. Guide me,” he said.

Diaz noted that the bounty for Palparan’s capture has been increased by the government from P500,000 to P1 million.