Pull out 24th IB officer from Bulacan — governor

Alarmed over the complaints of human rights abuses against an Army officer based in Bulacan, Gov. Josefina de la Cruz has signed a provincial board resolution demanding his pullout.

De la Cruz told The STAR that the resolution called on Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, chief of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division, to reassign elsewhere M/Sgt. Rollie Castillo, who belongs to the 24th Infantry Battalion.

In a two-page resolution it passed last March 6, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan asked Palparan and Army higher-ups to pull out Castillo, whom residents have accused of human rights abuses.

This developed as Malolos Bishop Jose Oliveros and parish priests throughout Bulacan joined the call for a stop to the spate of killings in the province, mostly in San Ildefonso town.

Fr. Dennis Espejo, of the diocesan social action center, said the local Catholic Church is alarmed by these killings of supposed left-leaning people.

"It is not for us to say whether the victims were killed due to their political leanings and interests, but the mere fact that there were successive incidents in the province and there were senseless losses of lives, the Church should stand up and condemn these acts," Espejo said.

Oliveros led a Mass at the patio of the San Ildefonso Church yesterday, attended by the families of the victims.

Oliveros said the rash of killings has "shattered the peace" in Bulacan and instilled fear among the provincial folk.

Human rights groups have blamed the killings on the military.