Court junks bail petition of 2 Palparan co-accused

MANILA, Philippines - A Bulacan judge has junked the bid of two fellow accused of retired Army general Jovito Palparan Jr. to be temporarily released from jail while facing charges for the enforced disappearances of two University of the Philippines student-activists in 2006.

In an eight-page order, Judge Teodora Gonzales of the Malolos City Regional Trial Court Branch 14 dismissed the petition for bail filed by Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado and S/Sgt. Edgardo Osorio.

From the evidence, the prosecution “has far shown that evidence of guilt” of the two accused for the crime is “strong,” the court said.

The claim of the two that they were “maliciously pinpointed for the kidnapping of the victims,” according to the court, serves only “as a defense that calls for further factual support in the course of judicial proceeding.”

Prosecutors of the Department of Justice (DOJ) handling the case clarified that the ruling does not apply to Palparan since he has yet to surrender and submit himself to the court for his arraignment.

Palparan, Anotado, Osorio, and a fourth accused, M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario, are facing two counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention in connection with the kidnapping of UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño.

The investigating DOJ panel chaired by Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera approved the indictment of the four based on the testimonies of witnesses who were “able to establish” that Cadapan and Empeño “were kidnapped on June 26, 2006 and were last seen by Raymond Manalo detained up to around June 2007, a period of one year.”

The DOJ said Palparan had a “direct hand” in the detention of the two students and that through his men, he “had knowledge and control of the places where the women were held.”

Manalo, a farmer who himself was seized by the military and testified in the amparo and habeas corpus cases in the Court of Appeals (CA) in 2008, had said that he witnessed several men abusing the students, including the use of water torture and electric shocks on Cadapan.

Manalo also said he had seen Manuel Merino, who was snatched with the two students, being burned to death.

In September 2007, the CA ruled that Manalo’s testimony was “clear, consistent and convincing,” as it ordered the Armed Forces to produce the bodies of the two missing students.