MANILA, Philippines - “The butcher” has come home.
A Bulacan court has ordered the transfer of retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. from the provincial jail to the Philippine Army Custodial Center at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City while he is facing criminal cases involving the enforced disappearance of two University of the Philippines student activists in 2006.
Palparan’s lawyer Narzal Mallares said Malolos City Regional Trial Court Branch 14 Judge Teodora Gonzales granted their request for transfer of detention and issued the order during a hearing yesterday morning.
In the afternoon, the retired general was brought to his new detention center.
The RTC, the lawyer said, cited the security of the high-profile accused as well as those of the inmates at the provincial jail in its decision to allow the transfer.
In their plea for transfer of detention, the camp of Palparan cited an intelligence report from the Philippine Army showing that the New People’s Army had allegedly mobilized a hit squad to “eliminate” him.
They also said that several NPA members were also detained at the provincial jail, thereby heightening the risk to Palparan.
They added that the transfer would be cost efficient for the government, citing the need to secure the undermanned provincial jail.
Palparan initially wanted to be detained at the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo or the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame. But he changed his mind and sought detention at the Army Custodial Center instead.
Mallares said Palparan was happy about the court’s decision.
“If he seldom smiled before, now he’s grinning from ear to ear,” he said.
But the lawyer clarified that the transfer of detention should not be considered a “special treatment.”
Regular prisoner
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato said Palparan will not receive any special treatment as he will be staying inside a 2.8-meter by 4.3-meter detention cell.
The cell has one bed and an electric fan but Palparan will have to share a common comfort room with eight other detained soldiers.
Detoyato said Palparan will be safe in the facility that also served as a detention place of the Magdalo rebel soldiers.
Military rule over civilian supremacy
Rep. Terry Ridon of party-list group Kabataan yesterday condemned Palparan’s transfer of detention.
“We condemn in the strongest sense the obvious and blatant preferential treatment accorded by the Aquino administration to Palparan, a human rights violator. This unwarranted transfer might have been instigated by Palparan’s colleagues in the AFP, especially Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and AFP chief (Gregorio Pio) Catapang,” he said.
“Palparan should not be turned over to the hands of the military. First of all, he’s not in active service. He’s retired,” he said.
He asked President Aquino: “Mr. President, have you forgotten about your father? According special treatment to Palparan is akin to giving special treatment to General (Fabian) Ver and your father’s jailers.”
He said it is not a remote possibility that the Army would protect Palparan since the retired officer was formerly an Army field commander.
Meanwhile, rights advocates said the decision of the Malolos court shows that the government never thought of the safety and security of its citizens, not only in terms of the pervading criminality but also in the continuing rights violations.
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said the special treatment given to Palparan is tantamount to the approval of the military’s increasing human rights abuses against progressives.
“It sends a strong political message, an insult to the victims of human rights abuses, that human rights violators and criminals are being pampered by the present administration,” the KMP said.
The Kilusang Mayo Uno said the Malolos court “has just vanquished any hope for justice for the hundreds killed, abducted and tortured by Palparan.”
The Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) also slammed Palparan’s transfer of detention as proof of “explicit enjoyment of Gen. Palparan on the special treatment given by the Aquino administration.”
PCPR secretary-general Nardy Sabino said such transfer “displays the dominance of military rule over civilian supremacy.”
“We demand that security be given to the human rights victims and their families and not to the violators,” the group stressed in a statement.
No plea
Palparan, who hid for almost three years since the case for two counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention emanating from the disappearance of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño was filed in December 2011, was arrested last Aug. 12 by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Palparan did not enter a plea during his arraignment last Aug. 18, leading the court to enter a not guilty plea on his behalf.
His other co-accused – Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado and Staff Sergeant Edgardo Osorio – have voluntarily surrendered to the authorities after the court issued warrants against them.
Another accused, Master Sergeant Rizal Hilario, remains at large. – With Jaime Laude, Ric Sapnu, Rhodina Villanueva, Jess Diaz, Mayen Jaymalin