No amount can compensate for 2 UP students, says mom

CITY OF MALOLOS – The mother of missing University of the Philippines (UP) student Karen Empeño told the court on Monday that no amount of money could make up for her family’s agony because of the disappearance of Karen and fellow student, Sherlyn Cadapan.

Concepcion Empeño, a public school principal in Masinloc, Zambales province, testified for the prosecution this week in the trial of retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr., who is facing kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges in connection with the disappearance of the UP students almost nine years ago.

Karen Empeño and Cadapan have been missing since they were abducted by suspected government soldiers in Hagonoy town in Bulacan province on June 26, 2006.

Palparan, the former commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division based in Nueva Ecija, was present when Empeño took the witness stand at the Regional Trial Court Branch 14 here on Monday.

Empeño was asked to quantify the grief her family suffered due to the crime, to help the court determine the civil damages that the family can claim from Palparan and three other soldiers should they be convicted.

She said she could not put a price tag on her daughter’s disappearance, though she pointed out that the effort to find Karen in the last nine years had affected her family’s finances. Almost half of her P39,000 monthly salary had been spent to find Karen, she said.

Empeño said she had been looking for her daughter from June to December in 2006.

She cited the absences she incurred during her search and on days she was preparing the case against Palparan and three other soldiers. These absences would be deducted from her retirement benefits once she retires in July, she told the court.

Empeño said she used up all her vacation leave credits and has been reporting for work only three times a week.

“I not only spent on the search or the lawsuits, I also attended meetings of families of the disappeared so I commute from Zambales to Metro Manila,” she said.

“I believe that my daughter Karen is still alive. I wish that General Palparan finally tells the truth that he knew her and Sherlyn. [This is] not only for us but also for his own peace of mind,” Empeño told the Inquirer after her court appearance.

Lawyer Diosab Formilleza, Palparan’s counsel, tried to establish that Karen was no longer a UP student at the time of her disappearance, during the hour-long trial on Monday.

“You said that Karen was last enrolled in UP Diliman in 2005 in the College of Social Sciences [and Philosophy]. That meant that in 2006, when she was reported abducted … she was no longer an enrolled UP student,” he asked Empeño.

She said Karen, a graduating student of UP Diliman, was collecting data to complete her thesis when she was abducted.

“Her thesis was about the songs narrating the plight of farmers. [Karen] was out there in Hagonoy town conducting data gathering to complete her thesis because she earned an ‘incomplete’ [grade],” Empeño said.

It was Empeño’s second time to appear in court on Monday. She had earlier testified against detained Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado and S/Sgt. Edgardo Osorio, the two other soldiers implicated in the case.

Another accused, M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario, has yet to be arrested.

Erlinda Cadapan, mother of Sherlyn, is expected to take the witness stand on May 18. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon