Palparan says AFP not coddling him, he won’t surrender

BULAKAN, Bulacan—Fugitive retired Major General Jovito Palparan said Friday there was no truth to reports that he was being coddled by retired generals and members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

At the same time, Palparan said he would not surrender since “the filing of the cases against me was done illegally.”

Palparan made the statements through his lawyer, Jesus Santos.

He said he had instructed his lawyers to “file all pleadings allowed before the court and the Department of Justice to prove the charges against me are untrue and the procedure they conducted was improper.”

Palparan and three other soldiers are facing kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges filed with a Bulacan regional trial court in connection with the disappearance of University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño in 2006.

Palparan, in his statement, said the AFP and the retired generals should not be blamed for the “apparent failure of the government to apprehend me.”

“I have such deep respect for the AFP and the retired generals that I will never implicate either in a situation where their reputation will be put at stake,” he said.

He called on the media and the human rights group to “stop dragging the name of the AFP and the retired generals” into the issue.

“Stop accusing them of coddling me. Even if they will offer it, I will not accept it because I do not want the AFP and the retired generals to be involved … This is my own fight,” Palparan said.

In a hearing on February 6, the Malolos, Bulacan court gave the lawyers of Palparan and his accusers five days to submit their pleadings and documents before all pending motions could be resolved.

Santos also wrote the National Bureau of Investigation on February 1 to relay the information that the two missing UP students could still be alive.

In giving to the media the supposed statement from Palparan, Santos said: “Nagmamakaawa si General marinig ang side niya, huwag din daw idamay ang mga ibang general ng AFP (The General is pleading to the public for his side to be heard and not to involve the other generals of the AFP).”

Bulacan Judge Teodora Gonzales, during a January 30 hearing, said she would not accept Santos’ claim that the abducted students were alive until Palparan’s defense team could bring them to the court.

Gonzales is deliberating on a petition to quash the kidnapping charges filed against Palparan, Colonel Felipe Anotado, S/Sgt. Edgardo Osorio and M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario.

Lawyer Narzal Mallares, lead counsel of Palparan’s defense team, said his client feared he would be treated as badly as former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo if he turned himself in.

“Natatakot siyang maging biktima rin ng railroaded na prosekusyon at pagpapakulong tulad ng dinanas ng kanyang boss, si Presidente Gloria Arroyo, kaya ayaw niyang sumuko (He fears he would become the latest victim of prosecutorial railroading and be sent to jail just like his former boss, former President Gloria Arroyo, which is why he won’t surrender),” Mallares said.