“Allowing a convicted perpetrator of grave human rights violations to receive extraordinary accommodations sends the wrong message—that accountability may be evaded by those with power or connections."

MANILA — Mothers of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño, the two University of the Philippines students who have been forcibly disappeared, have sought the Supreme Court’s help in compelling the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to disclose the present whereabouts of retired general Jovito Palparan Jr.

Erlinda Cadapan and Concepcion Empeño filed a manifestation today, June 15, after receiving reports that Palparan was transferred to the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in Baguio City.

Recent documents obtained by the lawyers of the victims’ families showed that Palparan was “transferred to Bureau of Corrections – Baguio” and “moved out to PMA Baguio.”

In 2018, Palparan was convicted of charges of serious illegal detention and kidnapping in relation to the disappearance of the two UP students. At the time of the incident, there was still no domestic law penalizing enforced disappearances.

Read: Timeline: Search for Justice for Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño

“Allowing a convicted perpetrator of grave human rights violations to receive extraordinary accommodations sends the wrong message—that accountability may be evaded by those with power or connections,” said the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), counsel of two mothers, in a statement. “It diminishes the hard-won victories of victims and their families, who have endured years of pain and suffering in their pursuit of justice.”

NUPL further emphasized that the transfer is deeply alarming since Palparan should still be serving his reclusion perpetua, the highest imprisonment term in the Philippines from 20 years to 40 years.

Palparan was called the “butcher” during the administration of president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo due to the  grave human rights violations under his watch. He was behind the torture of brothers Reynaldo and Raymond, with the latter serving as a vital witness in the Empeño-Cadapan case, the murder of Southern Tagalog activists Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy, among many others.

“He had been responsible for the killings of several activists, enforced disappearances, and torture cases during his active service,” Mean Burgos, wife of disappeared activist Jonas Burgos, said in Filipino during protest.

Upon inquiry, the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) informed the rights groups that Palparan has been brought to a hospital.

The PMA, however, is neither a facility managed by the Bureau of Corrections nor a hospital, but an educational institution.

“The varied answers raise renewed suspicions of special treatment for Palparan,” said JL Burgos, spokesperson of Desaparecidos Philippines, a group of families and friends of victims of enforced disappearance.

He added that there are several instances when Palparan was given “special” accommodations: he was allowed to get an interview in SMNI while in prison, where he continued to redtag Empeño and Cadapan and justify their abduction. He was also confined at the NBP Minimum Security Compound, instead of NBP Maximum Security Compound where those convicted of heinous crimes are held.

Mean Burgos added that PMA is not just a school. “That is his home. It’s as if he was brought back to his own home to train new butchers. That is not justice. Personally, I have no trust in the justice system as we have experienced the same fate with the abduction of Jonas.”

Read: Special archives | Palparan

“There must be no special treatment for the butcher Palparan,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of human rights group Karapatan, echoing the call to recommit Palparan to the NBP Maximum Security Compound. “If he had indeed been brought there (PMA Baguio), we demand BuCor’s explanation.”

BuCor chief Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. told the media that Palparan remains in NBP facilities.

Empeño and Cadapan were abducted in Hagonoy, Bulacan, on June 26, 2006 by forces under Palparan’s command and remain missing until now. It will be the 20th year of their disappearance.

Since the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., there are over 2,000 victims of enforced disappearance documented by Karapatan and Desaparecidos. All of them remain missing to this day. (AMU, RVO)

The post Mothers of disappeared ask: Where is convicted rights violator Palparan? appeared first on Bulatlat.

From Bulatlat via This RSS Feed.