EDITORIAL - ‘The Butcher’ falls

Militant groups and relatives of two desaparecidos from the University of the Philippines are rejoicing over the arrest yesterday of retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan. The man dubbed “The Butcher” for the numerous human rights violations in the areas where he served as military commander had been in hiding for three years.

Palparan was ordered arrested by the Bulacan Regional Trial Court for the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of UP students Sherilyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño in Bulacan in 2006. The two students, now among the Philippines’ “disappeared,” were reportedly taken and tortured by members of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division based in Central Luzon.

With Palparan’s arrest, three things are expected from the government. One is to prevent his escape. While on the run, Palparan was believed to have been harbored by sympathetic elements in the military. Those elements can still spring him from detention and save him from a possible life term.

Second is to bring to justice other military personnel who carried out Palparan’s orders and violated human rights, particularly in the case of Cadapan and Empeño. Impunity arises from the failure to bring lawbreakers to justice.

Third is to intensify efforts to discourage members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from resorting to extrajudicial methods of carrying out their tasks. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who praised Palparan in one of her State of the Nation Addresses, was not alone in thinking that he deserved public praise for his brand of service to the nation. There are military officers who believe their organization needs men like Palparan in battling enemies of the state. Before becoming a fugitive, Palparan also became a member of the House of Representatives after his Bantay party-list group, with him as first nominee, won a seat in Congress.

Considering the number of like-minded men elected to public office, it is clear that there are Filipinos who approve of Palparan’s methods, in both the military and police. Such people change their attitude only when someone dear to them becomes a victim of officers who think like Palparan. That possibility is always present as long as no change is introduced into the culture that allowed The Butcher to thrive.