Twelve years after the abduction and disappearance of college students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno, the case is finally closed.
Major General and former Congressperson Jovito Palparan was found guilty today by the Malolos Regional Trial Court in Bulacan for the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of the University of the Philippines (UP) students.
ABS-CBN News reported that the women were tortured to death by Palparan’s men, who reportedly abducted them from a house in Hagonoy, Bulacan. Their bodies’ whereabouts remain unknown.
Palparan, along with his co-accused Lieutenant Colonel Felipe Anotado Jr., and Staff Sargeant Edgardo Osorio, was sentenced to 20 years and one day to 40 years imprisonment reported the Philippine Daily Inquirer. They were also each ordered to pay PHP100,000 (US$1,842) for civil indemnity and PHP200,000 (US$3,685) for moral damages.
He will serve his sentence at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila.
Another accused, Major Sargeant Rizal Hilario, remains at-large.
DZMM said Palparan screamed at the presiding judge, Alexander Tamayo, calling him a “coward” after he was declared guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
Tamayo warned that he would be cited for contempt, but Palparan continued and said in Filipino: “He’s not a good judge. Go ahead, cite me for contempt. What’s the point of citing me for contempt?”
Tinawag ni Retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan na “duwag” si Judge Alexander Tamayo matapos itong hatulang guilty beyond reasonable doubt sa kasong kidnapping at illegal detention | via @RonLopezPH pic.twitter.com/OpAjLkdUNv
— DZMM TeleRadyo (@DZMMTeleRadyo) September 17, 2018
Nicknamed by human rights activists as “The Butcher” for his role in capturing communists and for allegedly killing innocent civilians, Palparan went into hiding for three years and was caught in 2014 in Sta. Mesa, Manila by the National Bureau of Investigation and the Armed Forces’ Naval Intelligence Group.
He became a fugitive after the Bulacan court issued a warrant of arrest against him, reported Rappler.
During his service, Palparan was promoted twice for leading then-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s counterinsurgency campaign in Mindoro, Samar and central Luzon in 2005 and 2006.
The National Union of People’s Lawyers, which provided counsel to the victims’ families, released a statement lauding the guilty verdict.
It read: “[Palparan’s] conviction sends the message that cocky perpetrators of hideous human rights violations will meet their match in the fortitude of the mothers, the strength of the mass movement, the courage of human rights defenders, and the value of good lawyering for the people.”
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