CITY OF MALOLOS, Philippines—The latest addition to the defense team of fugitive retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan has made the lawyer of his coaccused uncomfortable.
Palparan hired this week Bulacan lawyer Jesus Santos, a former spokesperson of Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo.
Lawyer Jose Cruz, counsel of S/Sgt. Edgardo Osorio, said Santos’ background might affect how the court perceives his client and two other soldiers accused in the 2006 abduction of University of the Philippines students Sherylyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño.
Cruz said any association with the Arroyo couple might be used by the prosecution to insist that his client conspired with Palparan and two other soldiers in abducting the UP students.
At large
Palparan and coaccused M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario have yet to be arrested. Osorio and Army Col. Felipe Anotado are under military custody in Fort Bonifacio.
“At present, the perception is that all of the accused were [acting] under [the orders of] Palparan. [That’s how the prosecutors have established] conspiracy [when government charged our client]. At this time, it is very hard to disassociate them from Palparan. Sad to say, it could not be helped that the association between Palparan and the Arroyo couple would also implicate my client,” Cruz said.
Santos, 85, is president and founder of the National Association of Lawyers for Justice and Peace (NALJP).
He joins lawyers Narzal Mallares and Diosab Formilleza.
Cruz said his observations were not meant to disparage the Palparan defense team. He said he would need to cooperate with the retired general’s counsels.
Santos’ daughter, Tricia, had also joined Palparan’s defense team.
On Jan. 10, she filed a motion for reconsideration seeking to reverse a decision by Judge Teodora Gonzales of the Bulacan Regional Trial Court to defer action on Palparan’s motion to quash the charges until he turns himself in.
Sighted in Davao
“Except in applications for bail, it is not necessary for the court to first acquire jurisdiction over the person of the accused to dismiss the case or grant other relief,” she said.
Palparan was reportedly sighted in Southern Mindanao, Davao City police director Senior Supt. Rene Aspera said on Friday.
“We have reports that he has been sighted in the Davao region,” Aspera said.
But Aspera said the exact date and area where Palparan was sighted was not specified in the information that the police got.
Palparan was a regular visitor to the city and was later rumored to have joined the camp of Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s political rival.
But in February 2010, the city council declared Palparan persona non-grata.
Supt. Antonio Rivera, intelligence chief of the city police, said no manhunt operation was ordered for Palparan in the city yet, pending verification of the report.
The government has offered a P1 million reward for information leading to the capture of Palparan. With a report from Dennis Santos, Inquirer Mindanao