Press statement | From the political prisoners at Camp Bagong Diwa: Make The Butcher Palparan pay dearly for all his capital crimes against the people.

Selda Philippines: Aug 15 09:01PM -0700 

PRESS STATEMENT 
16 August 2014
 

  

We, political prisoners, are glad that one of the most notorious fascist butchers of social activists and even of innocent masses has at last been caught and now held in jail—atleast as of now.
  
 
Progressive and revolutionary forces all over the country are determined to make General Jovito Palparan pay for his numerous capital crimes against the people, from as far south as the Eastern Visayas provinces of Samar and Leyte, the Southern Tagalog Provinces of Mindoro, Quezon and Laguna, up to
as far north as Nueva Ecija and other Central Luzon provinces. 
 
 
We, political prisoners, and our loved ones, our co-advocates of social change, and the masses we have dedicated to serve have actually been among the numerous victims of the fascist crimes of The Butcher Palparan and others like him, including many who are still in the active service of the reactionary armed forces. Political prisoners are the living victims of arbitrary arrest, illegal detention, torture, attempts at extrajudicial killings, and other fascist violations of our human rights under the hands of military, paramilitary, police, prison, and other forces of repression of the reactionary ruling state.
  
 
The Butcher Palparan and others like him are actually the ones who deserve to be in prison, and not we, who have all along only been seeking to serve the people to the fullest. We bear no crime against the people.
 
 
We, political prisoners, our fellow dedicated advocates of social change for the sake of the people, and other victims of The Butcher Palparan and his ilk's fascist repression and violence, will be closely following how he will be treated and made to go through the present ruling state's course of justice. We are fully aware that efforts to frustrate such will always be sought by promotions and "bosses" of his like in the ruling state, from the military, police, jail, prosecutory, judicial, legislative, and up to the executive level.
 

Political prisoners at Camp Bagong Diwa,
Bicutan, Taguig City
15 August 2014
 
  
Alan Jazmines 
Emeterio Antalan
Leopoldo Calosa
 
Tirso Alcantara 
Aristides Sarmiento
Jesus Abetria Jr.
 
Alex Arias 
Fidel Holanda 
Rolando Laylo
 
Voltaire Guray 
Hermogenes Reyes Jr.
Jared Morales
 
Eliseo Lopez 
Philip Enteria 
Juanito dela Pena
 
Alberto Macasinag 
Cirilo Verdan Jr.
Raphael de Guzman
 
Reynaldo delos Santos 
Elmer Desuyo 
Eddie Cruz
 
Antonio Satumba 
Elmer Torres
Dennis Ortiz
 
Modesto Araza 
Felicardo Salamat 
 
 
-- 
The Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) is an organization of former political prisoners in the Philippines. Founded on December 4, 1984, SELDA was initiated by newly-released political prisoners of the martial law period. SELDA’s primary task is to work for the release of all political prisoners and to see to it that humane treatment of those who are still in detention are complied with by the Philippine authorities. SELDA advocates justice for current and former political prisoners. It calls for the mobilisation of resources in support of political prisoners, former detainees and their families. It carries out legislative advocacy for the indemnification and rehabilitation of political prisoners. SELDA goes into partnership and builds solidarity with concerned individuals and groups for the freedom and welfare of political prisoners and all victims of tyranny.

SELDA National Office: 2/F, Erythrina Bldg., #1 Maaralin corner Matatag Streets,
Brgy. Central District, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines
Tel: 632-4347486 Fax: 632-4354146
Email: selda.phils@gmail.com, selda_phil@yahoo.com.ph
Web: www.seldapilipinas.wordpress.com

APCCHRP Statement |Palparan's arrest does not end AFP's impunity for rights abuses

Posted by Belarmino Dabalos Saguing

Rome, Italy 15/08/2014

STATEMENT
15 Aug. 2014




We in the Asia Pacific Coordinating Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (APCCHRP), a campaign network of human rights advocates in the region, welcome the arrest of former Gen. Jovito Palparan. Also known as “The Butcher” among human rights defenders, he had evaded arrest for many years after being charged with the abduction, torture and involuntary disappearance of student activists Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan in Central Luzon, Philippines.

At the same time, we voice concern that this showcased apprehension of such a high-profile human rights violator will be used as a smokescreen for the continuing extrajudicial killings and abductions under the government of President Benigno Aquino III.

Just last August 9, two student activists from the University of the Philippines (UP), namely Guiller Cadano and Gerald Salonga, were abducted by the police and military in the province of Nueva Ecija, and filed with trumped up charges. This illegal arrest, occuring in the same province where Empeño and Cadapan had been detained and tortured, signals the fact that abductions and the filing of trumped-up charges by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) continues to this day.

While Gen. Eduardo Año, chief of the Intelligence Services of the AFP (ISAFP) which led the manhunt for Palparan (who also carried a 2-million peso prize on his head) triumphalizes on the apprehension of his erstwhile military colleague, it must be remembered that he himself is being held to account for numerous human rights violations during his stint that followed Palparan’s reign of terror in Central Luzon, such as the involuntary disappearance of agriculturist Jonas Burgos. Even then, he was lauded and appointed by President Aquino himself to head the AFP's intelligence wing.

We also cannot but be troubled by recent developments in the country's human rights situation. In the first quarter of this year alone, 22 people have already fallen victim to extrajudicial killings and massacres. This includes William Bugatti, a staff-member of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA), a member organization of human rights alliance KARAPATAN. Last August 6, Hildegardo Hernandez, a peasant organizer in Quezon province was shot by a motorcycle-riding man, a style of political assassination linked to the AFP's “death squads” that proliferated during Palparan's time.

As of June 30, 2014, KARAPATAN has documented 204 victims of extrajudicial killings under the Aquino government. There have also been 21 victims of enforced disappearances, 99 cases of torture, 664 illegal arrests and detention, and 39,800 victims of forced evacuation.

We believe that the apprehension alone of Palparan, while a positive first step, falls short of the redress expected by the victims' families as well as the recommendations of erstwhile UN Special Rapporteur Philip Aston. The culture of impunity that has been in place since Arroyo's term has created military monsters such as Palparan, but it is also deeply entrenched in the dominant, US-influenced mindset of the AFP that is underpinned by the National Security doctrine. It is the same mindset that has led to the derailing of the peace negotiations between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GPH).

The APCCHRP is calling on the Aquino government to prosecute Palparan case rigorously, but even more importantly, to bring to justice other perpetrators of human rights violations under the Arroyo regime as well as those under his own watch. We also urge the Philippine government to return to the negotiating table with the NDFP and resume the stalled peace talks, a move that should significantly improve human rights prospects in the country. #

Endorsed by:
Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP)


For reference:  Joselito Natividad, APCCHRP coordinator (64986079)
                         Eman Villanueva, HKCAHRPP co-convenor (97585935)

--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of
Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines
c/o ASA, No. 4 Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR
Tel. (852) 98105070, 97585935        Fax. (852) 27354559
E-mail: hkcahrpp@gmail.com

ICCHRP Rome Press Release | Punish Palparan! End impunity under Aquino!

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Press Statement: Punish Palparan!
Date:	Fri, 15 Aug 2014 00:40:43 -0700

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines-Rome, Italy (ICHRP-Rome) joins the family and friends and human rights fighters in celebrating the recent arrest of war criminal retired general Jovito Palparan. Indeed, it was the unrelenting efforts of the families, friends and human rights fighters that led to the arrest of the fugitive war criminal.

Some of the families of the victims of Palparan's barbaric but cowardly crimes have fled to Europe to escape Palparan's and his AFP confreres' murderous rampage.  Following the US “counterinsurgency” prescription of destroying the armed revolutionary movement, Palparan cowardly vented his ire for his failure to destroy the armed guerrilla movement on unarmed civilians – student activists, human rights workers, peasant leaders, etc  - whom he falsely accused of being members of the New People’s Army.

Many of the victims who were executed or disappeared by Palparan were bread winners whose families were deprived by Palparan not only of their life-support but of the very lives of their loved ones. Some have become migrant domestic workers in Europe.

We do not put much trust in the current administration's justice system which continues to coddle human rights violators among its ranks and perpetrate the culture of impunity with the number of victims of extrajudicial killings increasing under the Aquino government.

We would rather rely on the continuous pressure of the human rights community, and the unrelenting efforts of the families of Palparan's victims such as the families of Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, and his other victims in Mindoro and Central Luzon, to seek justice and end impunity.

The families and friends of the victims of Palparan in Europe will continue to fight for justice until it is achieved with the eventual punishment not only of this coward war criminal Palparan, but also his handlers such as Gloria Arroyo, another war criminal, and their minions and hired thugs in the AFP.

We will bring the fight for justice in the international community, and call for an international war crimes tribunal, to include for prosecution not only the crimes of the previous administration under which Palparan served, but also the Aquino administration and its US-funded "Oplan Bayanihan", which continues with the extrajudicial killings, illegal arrests and disappearances.

ICHRP-Rome, Italy

13 August 2014

Reference:

Buboy Salle

+39 329 3289652

  

Hustisya News Release | Survivors twice Eastern Visayas victims step forward, demand speedy conviction of Palparan

News Release

14 August 2014

Long before supertyphoon Yolanda wreaked havoc in Eastern Visayas that claimed thousands of lives and damage to millions of property, Jovito Palparan’s military-instigated tragedy first struck the region. 

Two days after his arrest, victims and survivors of Palparan in the provinces of Samar and Leyte joined the call for a speedy convition of the “butcher.”

“I felt a sense of fulfillment, even a little, that Palparan has been arrested. We will look into filing more charges against him. He should account to his crimes in our region and to members of our church as well. We urge all other victims of Palparan to come forward and do the same,” said Emma Lapuz, widow of United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) pastor Rev. Edison Lapuz.

Rev. Lapuz and Alberto Malinao, a leader of local peasant organization, were both shot dead outside the former’s house on May 12, 2005. The pastor was then conference minister of the UCCP and chairperson of Karapatan (Katungod-Sinirangang Bisayas) in the region.

Palparan has earned the rank of major general in 2004 when he was appointed commander of the 8^th Infantry Batallion of the Philippine Army, covering the area of Region VIII, the provinces of Samar and Leyte.

In a span of six months, from February to August of 2005, Palparan and his men unleashed a bloody campaign of terror and mayhem upon the people of Leyte and Samar and claimed 19 victims of extrajudicial killings, 12 victims of enforced disappearances and 25 victims of torture in Eastern Visayas.

“The killings in 2005 were intensive and wihout let-up.  Only days and weeks separated the series of murders. Victims were leaders and members of different people’s organizations branded by Palparan as fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army,” said Cristina Guevarra, secretary general of Hustisya.

On March 14, 2005, Atty. Felidito C. Dacut, regional coordinator of Bayan Muna Eastern Visayas was shot dead by two unidentified men on board a motorcycle.  Riding on a multi-cab, Dacut just came from a meeting at the the Bayan Muna regional headquarters in Tacloban.

Also, there were nine victims and survivors of frustrated killings. One of them was Dario Tomada, a peasant leader in Leyte, who narrowly escaped an assassination attempt against him inside his house in Kananga, Leyte on May 7, 2005. He and his brother survived the attack.

While in a sanctuary in Manila, however, he was arrested in July 2010 and is facing trumped-up charges of multiple murder as one of the John Does in the case along with Jose Maria Sison and Satur Ocampo. Tomada is in detention at the Manila City Jail.

“Like what he did in Mindoro, Palparan hamletted communities of farmers and ordinary folks. They were hauled and forced to undergo intensive interrogations, coerced to sign documents incriminating themselves being rebels and made to appear as rebel surrenderees pervaded in the farflung communities,” said Guevarra.  

Emma will be joining other victims of Palparan from Southern Luzon and Central Luzon to demand the speedy trial and conviction of Palparan on Friday.

“Communities in Eastern Visayas were subjected to food blockades, enforced curfews and regular census by the military. Suspected rebel sympathizers and activists when not being murdered in broad daylight were snatched out and never been heard,” said Guevarra.

A protest action will also be held on the next hearing of the kidnapping case against Palparan on August 18 at the Malolos Regional Trial Court. He is set to be arraigned on February 28. ###

Reference: Cristina Guevarra, Hustisya secretary general, 0949-1772928

--- 

Hustisya National Office

2/F #1 Maaralin cor. Matatag Sts. 

Central District, Diliman

Quezon City 1100 Philippines

Telephone: (02) 434-7486 | (02) 435-4146

Mobile: 0949-1772928

E-mail: hustisya...@gmail.com

Press statement | Mothers Palparan's victims: DUWAG KA, PALPARAN

Desaparecidos Philippines

Press Statement:

Aug. 14, 2014

Reference: 

Linda Cadapan 09087136291

Connie Empeno 09282884623

"Duwag si Palparan, sinungaling pa," (Palparan is a coward and a liar) Linda Cadapan and Connie Empeno, mothers of Sherlyn and Karen respectively said in reaction to  Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan's motion to Malolos Court to let him stay in the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila.

"Sinabi niyang handa siyang makulong kahit saan. Pero ngayon, gusto na naman niyang suwayin ang korte. Maalala na noong bago ibaba ang warrant kay Palparan, sinabi rin niyang handa siyang harapin ang mga kasong isinampa. Sa halip pinagtaguan niya ito nang tatlong taon," (He [Palparan] said he is prepared to be jailed anywhere. But now, he is again defying  the court order. Before the warrant of arrest against Palparan came out, he said he is ready to face his charges. Instead he went into hiding for almost three years) the two mothers said.

"Sakaling payagan ang mosyon ni Palparan, mukhang lumalabo na naman ang hustisyang hinahangad namin," (The justice we are seeking becomes dim again should  Palparan's motion be granted.) Mrs. Cadapan and Mrs. Empeño ended. ###

News release | Terror in Mindoro: Palparan’s victims in Southern Tagalog cry for justice

Hustisya: Aug 12 10:18PM -0700  News Release 13 August 2014       Before retired General Jovito Palparan was deployed in Central Luzon, where he and his men abducted and tortured UP students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, he first sowed terror in Southern Tagalog, particularly in Mindoro Oriental. This is where he was first called “The Butcher.”   “We join the families of victims of Palparan in Southern Tagalog in seeking justice. Palparan should face dozens of cases not only for the disappearance of Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, but also from the extrajudicial killings in Mindoro and other parts of Southern Tagalog when he was commanding officer of the 204th Brigade of the Philippine Army,” Hustisya secretary general Cristina Guevarra said.   Palparan, then colonel and later on promoted to brigadier general, led the Task Force Banahaw which was deployed in Laguna and later to Oriental Mindoro.   In Oriental Mindoro, there were 39 victims of extrajudicial killings. Some of the victims include couple Expedito and Manuela Albarillo, the Apolinar family (Ruben, Rodriga and Niña), Edilberto “Choy” Napoles, Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy. These cases were brought before the attention of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Prof. Philip Alston. On October 30, 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Committee concluded that the Philippine government violated the rights of Marcellana and Gumanoy. The UN body also recommended the filing of charges against Palparan.   In April 2003, Marcellana and Gumanoy led an 11-person fact finding mission to look into a report of a human rights violation case in Gloria town in Mindoro, Occidental. After the mission they were waylaid by armed men, who were alleged as members of Palparan’s death squad in the island, along the road who took Gumanoy and Marcellana and three others on April 21. The next day, the bodies of Gumanoy and Marcellana were found in a ditch in Bansud, Mindoro Oriental. At the time of their deaths, Marcellana was secretary general of Karapatan-Southern Tagalog Region while Gumanoy was chairperson of Katipunan ng Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK), a regional peasant alliance. The family of Eden Marcellana today led the protesters in front of the NBI and vowed to pursue the cases against Palparan. Orly Marcellana, husband of Eden, filed thrice at the Department of Justice. All three complaints were dismissed by the DOJ for lack of evidence against Palparan and his men. On Friday, victims and kin of victims of Palparan will gather at Balay Kalinaw, University of Philippines-Diliman for a press conference. “We are calling on all victims to come forward. More cases should be brought against Palparan for the heinous crimes he has committed,” Guevarra said. ### Reference: Cristina Guevarra, Hustisya secretary general, +63949-1772928 --- Hustisya National Office 2/F #1 Maaralin cor. Matatag Sts. Central District, Diliman Quezon City 1100 Philippines Telephone: (02) 434-7486 | (02) 435-4146 Mobile: 0949-1772928 E-mail: hustisya.national@gmail.com