BuCor: No rules violated in Palparan interview

MANILA, Philippines — No rules were violated when a news channel interviewed convicted kidnapper Jovito Palparan, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) said yesterday.

The BuCor issued a statement after Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the Department of Justice (DOJ), which supervises the bureau, would investigate if the interview by SMNI violated any rules.

Guevarra said the court that convicted Palparan in 2018 did not receive any request for an interview. He said the DOJ would check if Palparan’s case is on appeal since “it may have a bearing on jurisdiction.”

SMNI aired the interview with Palparan, a former Army general serving his sentence in the New Bilibid Prison’s maximum security compound for the disappearance of two University of the Philippines students, on Wednesday night.

“The request was sent just to the level of the BuCor. Our legal department studied the request extensively and we found that this does not violate any rules,” Chaclag told The STAR in Filipino.

He insisted that Palparan is not under a gag order and consented to be interviewed.

“There has been a long-standing request from SMNI to interview Palparan in their program… and we were able to grant this request because the (COVID) restrictions have loosened,” Chaclag said.

“The important thing is the BuCor’s response to the very important issue, which is how to help the government deal with the old problem of communist insurgency in the country,” he added.

Disciplinary action

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) yesterday demanded that the BuCor impose disciplinary action on personnel who allowed the interview with Palparan.

In a three-page statement, the NUPL said these personnel violated the bureau’s rules by giving special privileges to the former general.

The NUPL also called on the BuCor to deny all requests for interview and terminate any other special privileges accorded to Palparan. – Robertzon Ramirez