"The Justice Department’s lame stance on the principled and reasonable clamor to bring Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. to civilian detention strongly suggests that Malacañang is completely protecting The Butcher,” Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan, said.
Last Thursday, during a picket at the DOJ demanding for the immediate trial of Gen. Palparan,
"The Justice Department’s lame stance on the principled and reasonable clamor to bring Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. to civilian detention strongly suggests that Malacañang is completely protecting The Butcher,” Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan, said.
Last Thursday, during a picket at the DOJ demanding for the immediate trial of Gen. Palparan,
Karapatan, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, church groups, and Mrs. Erlinda Cadapan had a dialogue with Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan. Those who met with USec. Baraan called on the DOJ and its prosecutors assigned to the case to sign the conforme to the motion to transfer Palparan to a civilian detention facility under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. Palparan is now housed in his former headquarters at Fort Bonifacio.
Palabay said Usec. Baraan repeatedly gave a clear, categorical and unequivocal commitment before Mrs. Erlinda Cadapan, representatives of Iglesia Filipino Indepedendiente, United Church of Christ in the Philippines, and Karapatan that he will instruct the public prosecutors to sign the conforme. However, up to this time, DOJ prosecutors have yet to express their agreement with the said motion.
In September, the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), the private prosecutors representing the mothers of missing University students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño, filed a motion to transfer Gen. Palparan to the BJMP facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig. Judge Teodora Gonzales of the Malolos Regional Trial Court Branch 14 said the motion would not be acted upon unless the DOJ prosecutors will give their conformity. Lawyers of Palparan are opposing the said motion, citing ironically the non-conformity of the DOJ prosecutors on the issue. The court is set to decide on the motion this Monday, October 20 when the hearing continues.
“Usec. Baraan, as duly designated by Secretary Leila de Lima to meet the protesters, gave unqualified commitment and expressed full agreement with the pending motion. As far as we are concerned, he speaks for the Justice Department. With the court hearing fast approaching, we are extremely disturbed that because of the DOJ public prosecutors’ position, Palparan remains essentially free in the company of his military bodyguards,” said Mrs. Erlinda Cadapan, mother of disappeared student Sherlyn.
The Malolos RTC, over the intense objection of the private complainants, ruled in September that Gen. Palparan, accused of two counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention for the disappearance of Cadapan and Karen Empeño, be “detained” in the Philippine Army Custodial Center for disputable reasons of imminent threat to his life, among others.
"An army general "confined" in an army custodial center is no imprisonment at all but a homecoming. The assumptions on the threats to Palparan’s life are based only on speculations. Does this mean that the Aquino administration and the BJMP are so inutile that they cannot secure one prisoner? How was it able to secure the more than a hundred suspects in the Ampatuan massacre in Camp Bagong Diwa? Why are those considered “high profile” and "high-risk” detainees under civilian detention, except for Palparan?,” Palabay said.
“It is only fitting for a criminal like The Butcher to be behind bars of civilian jail. With these developments, the DOJ and Malacañang’s partiality to butchers like Gen. Palparan are becoming more apparent. This gives us serious doubts on whether Pres. Noynoy Aquino and the DOJ will pursue justice for human rights victims,” Cadapan stated.