Karapatan: Palparan’s arrest does not end impunity in PH

By: Aries Joseph Hegina - 10 years ago

Retired Army Major General Jovito S. Palparan Jr. JOAN BONDOC

MANILA, Philippines—Militant human rights group Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of Human Rights (Karapatan) said that amid the capture of retired Army Major General Jovito S. Palparan Jr. on Tuesday, the culture of impunity is still very much alive in the Philippines.

In a statement released Wednesday, Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan, said that the “machinery of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that perpetuates Palparan-style human rights violations against the Filipino people is very much active in implementing Oplan Bayanihan.”

Palabay added that the continued human rights violations allegedly committed by the AFP under the Aquino administration could not be covered up by the arrest of Palparan.

As of June 30, 2014, Karapatan has documented 204 victims of extrajudicial killings, 21 victims of enforced disappearances, 99 cases of torture, 664 illegal arrests and detention and 39,800 victims of forced evacuation, all allegedly committed under the Aquino administration.

Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Loretta Ann “Etta” Rosales on Wednesday said that the arrest of Palparan reflects reforms in the human rights agenda of the Aquino administration.

Retired Major General Palparan was arrested Tuesday in Sta. Mesa, Manila by virtue of an arrest warrant filed by Malolos regional trial court in 2011 on the charges of serious illegal detention and kidnapping of two University of the Philippines students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan.