CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Various militant groups expressed yesterday elation over the guilty verdict against retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan and his co-accused for the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of two UP students 15 years ago.
National Federation of Peasant Women or Amihan lauded “the human rights and justice movement, especially the victim’s families and its supporters for resolutely fighting to hold butcher Major Gen. Jovito Palparan accountable for the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of University of the Philippines students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan in 2 003.”
“The conviction by the Malolos Regional Trial Court Branch 15 is a step to unburdening of the long agony of the victim’s families,” the group said.
Anakpawis Party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao also lauded the guilty verdict against Palparan, as well as his co-accused Lt. Colonel Felipe Anotado and Staff Sergeant Edgardo Osorio.
“We laud the families of the victims, their supporters, the human rights advocacy and people’s movement in general, for resolutely struggling for this triumph, the butcher of Oplan Bantay Laya under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration should not see a shade of freedom for the state terror he sowed against the people,” Casilao said in a press statement.
Casilao recalled that in Palparan’s stint as Army commanding officer in Southern Tagalog, Eastern Visayas and Central Luzon regions, “he left a trail of blood, including the killing of peasant leader Eddie Gumanoy and human rights worker Eden Marcellana in Oriental Mindoro in April 2003.”
On the other hand, Amihan lauded the victims’ parents “Nanay” Concepcion Empeño and Erlinda Cadapan for their bravery and determination to bring justice to the cases of their daughters.
This, even as the group reiterated anew its support for Editha Burgos, mother of activist Jonas Burgos who also vanished allegedly in military hands in April, 2007.
Casilao said the verdict on Palparan should “serve as a warning to military officials who are presently wreaking havoc on the lives of the people, especially in the martial ruled Mindanao, against the Lumad, farmers and other marginalized sectors.”
