Palparan faces more charges of human rights abuses

Retired Gen. Jovito Palparan during a press conference. On his right is his counsel Atty. Narzal Mallares. Tetch Torres-Tupas/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–People were brutally killed wherever Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan was assigned, but no one dared to bring charges against him for fear of ending up like his victims, the Philippines’ top human rights advocate said on Wednesday.

But now that the enforcer of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s scorched earth policy against the communist insurgency has been captured, the government will support the filing of new charges against him, said Loretta Ann Rosales, chair of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

“Wherever he went—Mindoro, Palawan, Nueva Ecija—he left a trail of blood. That’s why nobody dared file charges against him,” Rosales said in an interview on Inquirer Radio. “Now, the capture of Palparan will encourage his victims to file charges against him with the help of the CHR.”

Rosales said the CHR would also bring charges against the supporters of Palparan, but did not elaborate.

Palparan, former commander of the Philippine Army 7th Infantry Division, went into hiding after he was ordered arrested in December 2011 by a court in Malolos town, Bulacan province, over the disappearance of two University of the Philippines students in 2006.

Military and National Bureau of Investigation agents captured him in his hideout in Sta. Mesa, Manila, early on Tuesday and the Bulacan Regional Trial Court ordered Wednesday that he be held in the provincial jail.

New charges

With “The Butcher,” the moniker given to Palparan by human rights campaigners, now behind bars, the rights group Hustisya (Victims United for Justice) called on his victims Wednesday to file charges against him.

“More cases should be brought against Palparan for the heinous crimes he has committed,” Hustisya secretary general Cristina Guevarra said in a statement.

Rosales said the CHR would stand with the families of the victims in bringing fresh charges against Palparan.

“Ideally, the families should file charges and the CHR will assist them. I am instructing my executive director to consult our regional offices and submit the status of their cases involving Palparan. I will call a meeting regarding this,” Rosales said in an interview with the Inquirer.

Military reforms

She said Palparan’s capture after three years on the lam showed that “reforms” were taking hold in the military.

“I think we should recognize and give credit [to the military for] the improvement, [for] the reforms [they are undertaking],” Rosales told Inquirer Radio.

“They used to get away with murder, literally. For as long as [Palparan] was at large, the culture of impunity remained. But when he was [captured], he had only a few supporters. That fact shows that his base has diminished and that the security sector has improved in reforms,” she said.

The rights group Karapatan has accused Palparan of being the mastermind of the torture and killing of political activists wherever he was assigned.

Karapatan claims Palparan orchestrated the killing of human rights campaigners Eden Marcellana and peasant leader Eddie Gumanoy in Southern Tagalog; UCCP pastor Edison Lapuz in Leyte province; lawyer Fedelito Dacut in Leyte; and Supreme Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente.

Marcellana’s husband, Orly Marcellana, joined other human rights campaigners in a rally in front of the NBI headquarters in Manila on Wednesday to demand justice for the rights workers allegedly killed by Palparan.

Summary execution

A farmer from Quezon province, Marcellana said he believed it was Palparan who killed his wife because she was a vocal critic of the former military official.

“Palparan texted her, saying he would kill her if she ever set foot in Mindoro,” Marcellana said.

Hustisya said Eden Marcellana was summarily executed in Oriental Mindoro in 2003, along with Gumanoy, head of the peasants’ group Katipunan ng Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan.

Aside from her husband, Marcellana left behind two daughters aged 16 and 18.

Participants in the rally carried pictures of Palparan’s alleged victims who were either killed or missing. Most were members of militant groups.

“Palparan claims these people are members of the New People’s Army. How can we verify that now that they are dead or missing?” said June Ver Mangao, a spokesperson for Karapatan.

“Palparan should not be given any kind of special treatment. If that happens, you will see more of us protesting in the streets,” Orly Marcellana said.

Becoming ‘The Butcher’

According to Guevarra, Palparan first sowed terror in Southern Tagalog, particularly in Oriental Mindoro, targeting members of militant groups.

In that province alone, 39 people fell victims to extrajudicial killings during the assignment there of Palparan as top provincial military official, Guevarra said.

It was for those many killings that rights campaigners called Palparan “The Butcher,” she said.

Guevarra identified some of the victims as couple Expedito and Manuela Albarillo, the Apolinar family (Ruben, Rodriga and Niña), Edilberto “Choy” Napoles, Marcellana and Gumanoy.

She said Marcellana and Gumanoy led an 11-member fact-finding mission to Gloria town in Occidental Mindoro on April 21, 2003, to look into reports of rights violations there.

After the mission, Marcellana, Gumanoy and three members of their group were seized by armed men, Guevarra said.

Their bodies were found the next day in a ditch in Bansud town, Oriental Mindoro, she said.

Palparan was the commanding officer of the Philippine Army 204th Brigade in Mindoro and Romblon provinces from May 2001 to April 2003.

Church findings

In a post on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Fr. Edwin Gariguez said he documented the extrajudicial killings in Mindoro and submitted his findings to the military.

“I can make the files available and I can testify if the documents can be found to support the [prosecution in the cases against] Palparan,” said Gariguez, executive director the National Secretariat for Social Action Justice and Peace (Nassa) of the CBCP.

“Maybe I cannot make a direct testimony, but the circumstantial evidence—I don’t know how it will stand in court and if it’s [admissible]—but I can make available the circumstantial evidence based on the stories we gathered in Mindoro,” Gariguez told reporters.

Gariguez claimed he, too, was a victim of harassment from the military when Palparan was assigned in Mindoro.

He said he was listed by the military as a “terrorist” because of his campaigning against mining on the island.

“During his reign of terror, Palparan lumped together all those in progressive movements, even people from the Church doing justice advocacy for the poor, and they were targeted for assassination. They were tagged as dissidents and terrorists on Palparan’s list and his list even included me. That’s why I needed to leave the diocese for a while, while Palparan was there,” Gariguez said.

Terror in Visayas

Leaders of progressive groups and military officials in Eastern Visayas, where Palparan once commanded the Philippine Army 8th Infantry Division, on Wednesday welcomed the news of Palparan’s capture.

“The people of Eastern Visayas had experienced state terrorism at its [worst] during the reign of Palparan, with hundreds of killings,” said Dean Lacandazo, a former member of End Impunity Alliance for Eastern Visayas.

Palparan’s capture is a first step in obtaining justice for his victims in the region, Lacandazo said.

Capt. Amado Gutierrez, spokesman for the Philippine Army 8th Infantry Division, said Palparan’s capture would serve him better, as he could now answer the allegations that rights groups had leveled at him.

36 killings, 712 rights abuses

The rights group Katungod-Sinirangan Bisayas said there were 36 extrajudicial killings and 712 human rights abuses on Palparan’s military watch in Eastern Visayas.

Palparan has denied all the accusations against him.–With reports from Annelle Tayao-Juego and Tina G. Santos in Manila; Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon; Joey A. Gabieta and Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas; and Aries Joseph Hegina, Inquirer.net