The families of missing University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empe帽o dared fugitive retired general Jovito Palparan to turn himself in and face them.
They want to confront Palparan about a statement he made through his lawyer on Friday saying that he would not surrender because the missing students were still alive.
The two students have been missing since 2006.
Lawyer Edre Olalia, counsel of the Cadapan and Empe帽o families, said Palparan should 鈥渟top putting [his own] lawyers on the spot鈥� [by making them] trifle with the emotions of suffering mothers [when they issue] recklessly bare claims that their young and abused daughters are still聽 alive.鈥�
Palparan鈥檚 lawyer, Jesus Santos, wrote the National Bureau of Investigation on Feb. 1 to say that the missing students were alive.
Palparan鈥檚 statement also said that the fugitive retired major general would 鈥渢ry [his] best not to surrender since the filing of聽 the cases against [him] was done illegally.鈥�
鈥楥ome out of your hole鈥�
In a text message on Saturday, Olalia berated Palparan: 鈥淐ome out of your putrid sewage聽 hole and see the light. Join your avid fan, former President GMA [Pampanga Rep. Gloria聽 Macapagal-Arroyo] in jail. Stop putting your attorneys on the spot [to] take the fall for you.鈥�
Olalia said the parents of the missing students had elected to endure 鈥渢he tedious and even frustrating process [that is necessary] to hold him accountable.鈥�
In another text message, Olalia said: 鈥淧alparan has the gall and temerity to claim that the charges against him were done illegally. That is farthest from the truth. He is turning things upside down. It is the height of聽 hypocrisy to wrongly claim he is the victim when he is known to have聽 routinely and cavalierly deprived many鈥� of their basic rights as human聽 beings, killed [people] summarily, [made people] disappear and tortured聽 [them].鈥�
Empe帽o was a sociology student who was studying the conditions of Bulacan farmers. Cadapan was a human kinetics student and a community organizer for the farmers鈥� group Alyansang Magbubukid ng Bulacan.
Gunmen reportedly seized Cadapan and Empe帽o from their rented house in Hagonoy,聽 Bulacan, on June 26, 2006, along with a farmer, Manuel Merino.
In 2007, the Court of Appeals enforced a writ of amparo issued by the Supreme Court against the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The writ compelled the military to prove that it did not have the missing students in its custody.
In May 2011, the parents of the missing students sued Palparan and three soldiers for kidnapping and serious illegal detention.
On Feb. 6, the Alyansa ng Mamamayan para sa Karapatan聽 and other聽 human-rights group mounted a 鈥淛ail Palparan Summit鈥� at the Governance聽 Center of the Bulacan provincial capitol while Palparan鈥檚 case was being heard at the Bulacan Regional Trial Court (RTC).
Protesters put on display at the justice hall the names of more than a hundred kidnap and torture victims allegedly during Palparan鈥檚 term as commanding general of the Army鈥檚 7th Infantry Division from 2005 to 2006.
Three other soldiers are facing kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges before the Bulacan RTC in connection with the 2006 disappearance of Cadapan and Empe帽o.
Others charged
Along with Palparan, charges were filed against retired M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario, Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado and S/Sgt. Edgardo Osorio.
Anotado and Osorio surrendered to authorities a day after the Malolos court issued a warrant for their arrest while Palparan and Hilario went into hiding.
First posted 12:08 am | Sunday, February 12th, 2012