Priest welcomes conviction of Palparan

A Catholic priest has welcomed the conviction of a retired military general and two others over the disappearance of University of the Philippines students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan in 2006.

Fr. Edwin Gariguez, executive secretary of the bishops’ National Secretariat for Social Action (Nassa), called the outcome as “justice served”.

“Palparan deserves a guilty verdict for his monstrous crime in killing and torturing those who are in progressive movements working to defend the rights of the poor,” Gariguez said.

A regional trial court in Malolos sentenced Palparan, Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado and Staff Sgt. Edgardo Osorio to life imprisonment.

The three were also ordered to pay P100,000 for civil indemnity and P200,000 for moral damages for each count.

Gariguez claimed that he was on “liquidation list” of Palparan when the former military official was the commander of the Army’s 204th Brigade in Mindoro from May 2001 to April 2003.

The anti-mining priest said he could attest about the various human rights violations and killings of Mindoro activists when Palparan was assigned in the area.

“I have personally investigated the spate of killings in Mindoro orchestrated by him,” he said. “And I was also targetted by him for liquidation.”