Palparan dared to submit self to courts - Malaya 08.04.2006
SENATE minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. yesterday challenged 7th Infantry Division chief Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan to submit himself to the courts to prove his claim he has nothing to do with the abduction of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno, both students of the University of the Philippines.
"Gen. Palparan should clarify matters not by press statements … If he puts himself above the law, he becomes a law unto himself," Pimentel said.
"And he is only an appointed officer of the Armed Forces, not even an elected official. With that mentality, the nation is really in great danger of losing its democratic moorings," he said.
Pimentel expressed dismay over the failure of Palparan and Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, a former commander of the AFP’s Northern Luzon Command, to show up at last Tuesday’s hearing of the Court of Appeals on the habeas corpus petition filed by the parents of Cadapan and Empeno.
Assistant Solicitor General Amparo Tan said Tolentino and Palparan were busy with the 8th anniversary celebrations of the 7th ID in Nueva Ecija.
Cadapan, Empeno and Manuel Merino, a farmer, allegedly were abducted by military men from a house in Hagonoy, Bulacan last June 26.
The military failed to present the two students to the CA which had granted a petition for habeas corpus filed by their families. The military also failed to produce the two students before the Supreme Court last July 24.
AFP chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon has questioned the order of the CA for the military to produce the victims, saying "it would be just like saying that we were responsible for their disappearance."
Pimentel said that while Palparan has denied any involvement in the abduction of the three victims, he has publicly said that Cadapan and Empeno had been tagged by the military as "members of the New People’s Army."
Palparan claimed the three were collecting "revolutionary taxes" from fishpond owners in Hagonoy.
He said one of the two students was known in the area as Ka Liza. He said the NPA even manages fishponds in the coastal towns of Bulacan.
Witnesses and relatives and friends of victims of human rights abuses have sought justice from the NPA, the Communist Party of the Philippines said.
CPP spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said the NPA would continue to undertake its own investigation of these cases and vowed to mete out justice to the perpetrators.
At the same time, Rosal dismissed as "pure hypocrisy and empty rhetoric" the order issued by President Arroyo for the police to resolve within the next 10 weeks 10 cases of political killings." – Dennis Gadil and JP Lopez
"Gen. Palparan should clarify matters not by press statements … If he puts himself above the law, he becomes a law unto himself," Pimentel said.
"And he is only an appointed officer of the Armed Forces, not even an elected official. With that mentality, the nation is really in great danger of losing its democratic moorings," he said.
Pimentel expressed dismay over the failure of Palparan and Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, a former commander of the AFP’s Northern Luzon Command, to show up at last Tuesday’s hearing of the Court of Appeals on the habeas corpus petition filed by the parents of Cadapan and Empeno.
Assistant Solicitor General Amparo Tan said Tolentino and Palparan were busy with the 8th anniversary celebrations of the 7th ID in Nueva Ecija.
Cadapan, Empeno and Manuel Merino, a farmer, allegedly were abducted by military men from a house in Hagonoy, Bulacan last June 26.
The military failed to present the two students to the CA which had granted a petition for habeas corpus filed by their families. The military also failed to produce the two students before the Supreme Court last July 24.
AFP chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon has questioned the order of the CA for the military to produce the victims, saying "it would be just like saying that we were responsible for their disappearance."
Pimentel said that while Palparan has denied any involvement in the abduction of the three victims, he has publicly said that Cadapan and Empeno had been tagged by the military as "members of the New People’s Army."
Palparan claimed the three were collecting "revolutionary taxes" from fishpond owners in Hagonoy.
He said one of the two students was known in the area as Ka Liza. He said the NPA even manages fishponds in the coastal towns of Bulacan.
Witnesses and relatives and friends of victims of human rights abuses have sought justice from the NPA, the Communist Party of the Philippines said.
CPP spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said the NPA would continue to undertake its own investigation of these cases and vowed to mete out justice to the perpetrators.
At the same time, Rosal dismissed as "pure hypocrisy and empty rhetoric" the order issued by President Arroyo for the police to resolve within the next 10 weeks 10 cases of political killings." – Dennis Gadil and JP Lopez
posted by brodkaster43 at Biyernes, Agosto 04, 2006
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