Palparan: Missing UP students targets of anti-insurgency ops

In this photo taken in 2014, the parents of Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan together with witness Raymond Manalo (second from left) meet at the office of Karapatan after the arrest of retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. —LYN RILLON

CITY OF MALOLOS—Retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. on Thursday said the two University of the Philippines (UP) students, who were abducted and had remained missing since 2006, were targeted in a military counter-insurgency operation.

Taking the witness stand on the last day of trial on the abduction of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño, Palparan said the two students were subjects of a “clearing operation” of the military in Central Luzon.

‘Clearing operation’

On cross-examination by prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera, Palparan said “clearing operation” was a term used by the military for a dialog with rebel targets purportedly to convince them to abandon the New People’s Army (NPA).

Palparan said it could also refer to “a target who was armed and who was engaged in an active combat operation against the military.”

While the trial was ongoing at the sala of Judge Alexander Tamayo of the Regional Trial Court Branch 15, about 200 people, some of them carrying placards calling for Palparan’s conviction, staged a rally outside the justice hall here.

Palparan, who was charged along with Col. Felipe Anotado and Sgt. Edgardo Osorio, said government prosecutors had failed to prove that he was behind the abduction of the two students in Bulacan province. He served as the final defense witness.

At the time of their supposed abduction and disappearance, Empeño, then 22, was a sociology student, while Cadapan, then 29, was a human kinetics student, both of UP in Diliman, Quezon City.

A protester calls for the conviction of Palparan. —CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE

During the trial, Palparan said key government witness, farmer Raymond Manalo, had failed to establish his role in the abduction of Empeño and Cadapan.

Manalo had testified meeting Palparan in San Ildefonso town in Bulacan in May 2006. The two students were taken from their rented room in Hagonoy town, also in Bulacan, on June 26, 2006.

Navera asked the former general to explain why the two students were suspected of being members of the NPA or of militant organizations associated with the Left.

Palparan cited intelligence reports that allegedly linked the two students to armed rebels.

Navera later told Tamayo that Palparan’s affidavit was filled with details that were “intolerable, repetitive, personal opinions and interpretations.”

Tamayo, at one point, ordered the deletion of 14 of Palparan’s 57 assertions in his affidavit that addressed the evidence presented against him.

Edre Olalia, secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers and counsel for the families of the missing students, said Palparan’s testimony “damaged his defense.”

Conspiracy theories

He said: “The general self-destructed with his contrived and sloppy defense peppered with huge leaps at reckless conclusions, biased opinions and puny conspiracy theories not supported by fact, evidence, reason or common sense.”

Erlinda Cadapan, Sherlyn’s mother, said Palparan had confirmed that her daughter and Karen were in the military’s order of battle. Concepcion Empeño, Karen’s mother, agreed, and said they expected Palparan’s conviction.

“The military should bring out our daughters now,” they added.