They call him ‘the butcher’

When retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan retired from the military last year, the communist New People’s Army (NPA) said he was a "dead man walking."

Palparan later described the threat as an "honor," coming from the NPA.

He boasted that despite the threat, he still picked up his groceries and went to the movies alone, without bodyguards.

Loathed by the left, who call him the "butcher," Palparan, now in semi-retirement, is finding himself at the center of a growing storm over political killings in the country.

The findings of a special government commission of inquiry into extrajudicial killings said Palparan "left a trail of blood or bodies in his wake wherever he was assigned."

The findings of the Melo Commission inquiry said there was "circumstantial evidence" linking Palparan, 56, to the killings of leftists.

But the mild-mannered former general, married to a dentist, with three children, makes no apologies about his hardline approach to the country’s 39-year-old communist insurgency.

Others see Palparan as a true patriot defending his country from the scourge of communism.

Even President Arroyo praised him during her State of the Nation Address last year when she said: "Gen. Palparan will not back down until the darkness of terror gives way to the dawn of freedom."

Now her favored general is finding himself at the center of a growing storm that will not go away.

Retired Supreme Court justice Jose Melo’s report has rocked the administration and the military, which is out to defend one of its own.

But for rights activists, it has vindicated much of what they have been saying for years.

The Melo report said Palparan and his men could be "responsible for an undetermined number of killings by allowing, tolerating and even encouraging the killings."

The general, who has fought Muslim rebels, rightist military coup plotters and even served a short stint with the Philippine contingent in Iraq in 2004, is now facing one of his biggest battles.

Palparan has denied any wrongdoing, but said the civilian populace in areas where he operated might have been inspired by his example to take revenge on the guerrillas who abused them.

"Many of these people who have been victims or relatives of the victims also desire to exact revenge. They take action by themselves, take the law into their hands because they feel that justice is not coming," Palparan said.

He directly accused leftist activists, political parties and non-government organizations of being fronts for the rebels, saying "it’s actually... the militants and the party-list organizations who are the ones directing or commanding the NPA."

The communists hate him because "I confront them in all aspects," not just on the battlefield but in their intelligence networks, support groups and propaganda campaigns, Palparan said.

After his retirement, Palparan has remained as Arroyo’s chief adviser on her campaign to crush the NPA.

The president has repeatedly backed Palparan, and said he was central to defeating the communists before she steps down in 2010.

"Jovito Palparan will stand up to the enemy," she has said.

Unlike other military officers who gained celebrity status in this country, Palparan is not tall, muscular or handsome, nor is he a graduate of the elite Philippine Military Academy (PMA), the local version of West Point.

He rose through the ranks as a reservist, and has earned the reputation of being a good field strategist who has the president’s ear. -AFP