New judge in Palparan case assures victims’ kin of speedy trial

Retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. RAFFY LERMA/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

CITY OF MALOLOS, Philippines—The new judge handling the kidnapping and serious illegal detention case against retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. and three other soldiers in connection with the 2006 disappearance of two University of the Philippines students has assured all parties that the trial will proceed without delays.

Concepcion Empeño, mother of Karen, one of the two missing UP students, said Judge Alexander Tamayo of the Regional Trial Court Branch 15 allayed their fears when the hearing resumed on Wednesday after a month-long break.

Tamayo took over the case after RTC Branch 14 Judge Teodora Gonzales, who had been hearing the case since 2011, inhibited herself.

Empeño and Erlinda Cadapan, mother of Sherlyn, the other missing student, earlier expressed concern that the case’s transfer to another court would further delay their search for justice.

Their daughters were last seen in Hagonoy, Bulacan, in 2006 after they were reportedly abducted by soldiers.

On Wednesday, lawyer Edre Olalia, who represents the Empeño and Cadapan families, presented the legal officer of television network GMA-7 to relay to the court that reporters Kara David and Dano Tintungco, who were supposed to appear as the prosecution’s last witnesses, could not attend the hearing.

In interviews conducted by David and Tintungco with Palparan, the former commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division in Central Luzon  mentioned that they held two communist leaders identified only as “Ka Tanya” and “Ka Liza/Ka Sierra.”

Olalia said the GMA 7 representative submitted compact discs and transcripts of the reporters’ interviews with Palparan.

He said the court directed the prosecution to submit in three days a list of people who would testify in the next hearing, including the reporters, videographers or the custodian of the recordings of Palparan’s interviews held in 2007, 2013 and 2014.

Tamayo scheduled the next hearings on Sept. 30 and Oct. 15. TVJ

RELATED STORIES

Ombudsman indicts Palparan for Manalo kidnapping

5 things you need to know about Jovito Palparan