MALOLOS CITY—Retired Major General Jovito Palparan has not left the country, but vowed not to surrender, a statement released by one of his counsels on Monday said.
In the said statement released to the media by Lawyer Jesus Santos, Palparan also claimed innocence to charges filed against him and stressed that he is not a fugitive.
Santos told journalists here that Palparan requested for his statement to be distributed in order that it may “reach the Human Rights Watch and the government.”
In the statement, Palparan said “I am just around, but I will try my best not to surrender.”
He said that his enemies are making it appear that filing charges against him is in accordance with the law, but stressed that it is in gross violation of the law.
“I will not allow myself to be a victim of this farce. My name is clean, and I have served our great AFP with all my mind, soul and body,” he said in the statement.
Palparal stressed that, “I am not a fugitive” and argued that the warrant issued for his arrest is illegal since it is a by-product of an improper preliminary investigation.
He also invoked that such is a gross violation of the due process clause of the Constitution citing records that he was charged with eight offenses and all of them were dismissed.
He also claimed that the Aquino administration really want to pin him down.
“The government clearly intends to pin me down because when the case reached the Department of Justice, an entirely new charge of kidnapping and serious illegal detention was recommended and with undue haste was immediately filed in court,” Palaparan said in the statement.
He further said, “what I’m pleading for is that my side be heard in a preliminary investigation to show that I am innocent of the charges imputed on me.”
As this developed, Cecil Ruiz of Karapatan Central Luzon said that Palparan should be in jail for his human rights violations.
The same was echoed by Oscar Empenio, the father of Karen, one of the two University of the Philippines students abducted by armed men in Hagonoy town on June 26, 2006.
