Retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
DAVAO CITY — A militant lawmaker from Mindanao said Wednesday that the court order allowing the transfer of retired Major General Jovito Palparan from the Bulacan provincial jail to the Philippine Army Custodial Center in Fort Bonifacio was a form of “special treatment” and would worsen the culture of impunity in the country.
“The trial court’s acquiescence to the transfer of former Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan shows that the state of impunity in the country continues, its authors even receiving special treatment under the Aquino administration,” Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said in a press statement.
“Why detain a clearly already civilian prisoner in a military facility?” he said. “This is revolting, a grave insult to the relatives of the victims.”
Zarate, who was born in General Santos, compared the treatment given to Palparan with that of other prisoners in supporting his claim that Palparan, derisively called “The Butcher” by militants, was being accorded special treatment.
“While many detained prisoners languish in cramped jails nationwide, the AFP coddles Palparan. This is like saying suspects of serial murders and other grave human rights violations can get special treatment. One accused of serious illegal detention is now given the choice of where he wants to be detained,” Zarate said.
He said relatives of Palparan’s alleged victims, such as Shirley Cadapan and Karen Empeño, had waited years for the former general’s trial and were surely dismayed at how the government treats him now.
Cadapan and Empeño, University of the Philippines alumnae accused by the military of being communist rebels, disappeared in Hagonoy, Bulacan, on June 26, 2006, at a time when Palparan was commander of the Army’s Seventh Infantry Division. The 7th ID, based in Nueva Ecija, has jurisdiction over Bulacan.
Zarate said putting Palparan under the custody of the AFP was a cruel way of saying that perpetrators who killed with impunity were being “rewarded under President Aquino’s matuwid na daan.”
“What does that say about our justice system?” he asked.
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