PNP: Hunters need patience to nab Reyes, Palparan

MANILA, Philippines—Hunters need to be patient to catch their prey.

Or so the Philippine National Police says, explaining its continued failure to catch three high-profile fugitives—retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan and former Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes and his brother, Coron Mayor Mario Reyes.

Responding to taunts from militant party-list representatives over the police’s continued inability to land its prey, police spokesperson Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr. said it was only a matter of time before Palparan and the Reyes brothers are arrested.

“As hunters, you need to be patient. Right now, the movements of our subjects are already limited. Sooner or later the long arm of the law will catch up to them,” Cruz said.

But the remarks made by militant House party-list members Teodoro Casiño and Walden Bello, who separately criticized the PNP for its failure to find the fugitives, were hardly helpful, Cruz said.

“Instead of coming out with these statements, it would be better to just help out. After all, this responsibility doesn’t just fall on the PNP but also the community,” he said.

“The PNP is doing its part. We should not be so impatient. We’re following procedures. Our tracker teams are doing their jobs,” Cruz said.

As for Bello’s suggestion that there should be a reshuffle in the police command, Cruz said that should be up to President Aquino, “depending on his assessment of the PNP.”’

“We serve at the pleasure of the President,” he said, adding that he has not sensed that a reshuffle was in the offing.

A Bulacan court last December ordered the arrest of Palparan in connection with the disappearance of University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño in 2006.

The government has offered a P1-million bounty for his capture, which Bello has suggested should be raised to P10 million.

Bello also urged the President to “discipline” members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who are “suspected of shielding” the fugitive general.

Palparan was last seen in December 2011 at Diosdado Macapagal International Airport at Clark Freeport preparing to board a plane bound for Singapore but was prevented by immigration agents.

The Reyes brothers, along with two aides, were also ordered arrested by a Palawan court after they were implicated in the January 2011 murder of environmentalist and broadcaster Gerry Ortega.

To Sen. Joker Arroyo, the arguments over the nonarrest of Palparan would have been avoided had the congressional Commission on Appointments rejected his promotion to major general, which occurred only a few months after the disappearance of the UP student activists.

“The commission voted to give its consent to Palparan’s elevation to major general. That meant that Congress saw fit to see him as a two-star general,” he said.

During the confirmation hearings, a link between Palparan and the disappearances was brought up, but the commission still conferred two-star general status on Palparan on Dec. 14, 2006, Arroyo noted.

“The brouhaha over the government’s inability to arrest General Palparan would not have happened had the CA in December 2006 denied his promotion to major general when he was up for confirmation,” the senator said.

“Unfortunately, Palparan’s alleged abuses were not investigated minutely by the commission. If the allegations were true, then his promotion should have been rejected and his violation formally exposed for prosecution by the appropriate agencies,” Arroyo said.

A check with the commission records showed that Arroyo, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III and Bataan Rep. Antonino Roman were the only ones to have objected to Palparan’s nomination out of the 25 members of the bicameral body.

At the time, Franklin Drilon was Senate President and presiding officer of the CA.

Arroyo said he opposed the proposed promotion for Palparan “precisely because of his human rights record.”

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has expressed concern anew over the Aquino government’s failure to arrest Palparan.

“Every day that Palparan avoids arrest further damages the military’s reputation,” Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director of the rights watchdog body, said in a statement.

“The armed forces leadership needs to send a message that they, and not abusive officers, are in control,” she said.

Pearson urged Armed Forces Chief Lt. Gen. Jesse Dellosa to take concrete steps to hold soldiers accountable for human rights abuses.

While the military’s rhetoric on human rights abuses has improved under the Aquino administration, this has not resulted in greater cooperation with investigating bodies, Human Rights Watch noted.

The public rhetoric of senior military officers has improved since Mr. Aquino assumed office in mid-2010, it said. But the public statements have not resulted in better military cooperation with investigating authorities, comprehensive internal investigations of implicated military personnel, or increased openness within the military structure, it said.

Dellosa should publicly announce to all military personnel that assisting Palparan in avoiding arrest or failing to cooperate with civilian authorities is obstructing justice and subject to prosecution, Pearson said.

“General Dellosa should make a professional, accountable military his legacy. As a first step, the military needs to be cooperating with, rather than obstructing, civilian investigations,” she said.

Human Rights Watch said it had seen little progress on the impunity for extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, continued use of abusive paramilitary forces, the false tagging of children as rebel fighters, and the unlawful use of schools as camps or detachments.

While the number of alleged extrajudicial killings has dropped significantly in recent years, the military has failed to address the longstanding problem of impunity, it said.

Human Rights Watch said Dellosa should issue a public order to all forces clearly stating that political activists, unionists, and members of civil society groups are not to be targeted in the campaign against rebel fighters.

It added that the military leaders fully comply with all civilian inquiries and assist authorities in arresting military officers and men implicated in extrajudicial killings and other serious human rights violations.