Palparan says he’s too poor to pay lawyer

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

CITY OF MALOLOS—The court hearing the kidnapping and illegal detention charges against detained retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. assigned him a temporary lawyer on Thursday after he dismissed his lawyers and expressed desire to represent himself in the trial.

Palparan attended the trial without his lawyers and informed Judge Alexander Tamayo of the Bulacan Regional Trial Court Branch 15 that he could no longer afford to pay his lawyers.

Instead, lawyers Narzal Mallares and Diosab Formilleza had agreed to serve as consultants to help him prepare his legal briefs in the course of the trial, Palparan said.

He also said he could not accept the services of a public attorney because the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) is under the Department of Justice, which is prosecuting him and three others for the 2006 kidnapping and illegal detention of missing University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño.

Aside from Palparan, others charged in the case were Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado, Staff Sgt. Edgardo Osorio and Master Sgt. Rizal Hilario, who is at large.

But Tamayo temporarily assigned lawyer Abner Torres, counsel for Anotado and Osorio, during the hearing on Thursday, stressing that Palparan needed proper representation in his trial.

The judge also urged Palparan to reconsider seeking help from the PAO or from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

The prosecution rested its case during the hearing, according to Julian Oliva of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, the group representing the families of the missing students.