Palparan faces disqualification raps

MANILA, Philippines - Barely a week after being proclaimed as party-list representative, retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan is facing disqualification raps from militant leaders for alleged human rights violations.

Bayan Muna chairman Reynaldo Lesaca Jr., Gabriela secretary-general Cristina Palabay, Anakpawis secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr., Hustisya founding member Erlinda Cadapan, Antonio Flores of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and Joselito Ustarez of the Kilusang Mayo Uno asked the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal yesterday to strike off Palparan from the list of 32 new party-list congressmen.

The complainants echoed the protests voiced by militant lawmakers against the swearing in of Palparan, whom they labeled as “The Butcher.”

In a 14-page petition, leaders of the six militant organizations questioned the qualifications of the retired major general, saying he cannot claim to represent “marginalized and underrepresented sectors Bantay purports to represent.”

They accused Palparan of committing “gross human rights violations” against those belonging to the marginalized sector, particularly cause-oriented groups.

“Far from belonging to a marginalized and underrepresented sector, respondent Palparan is a man of power, and in fact he continues to wield power even after his retirement from military service with the rank of major general,” the complainants said.

They said Palparan’s military record since he started out in 1973 was bereft of any evidence that he could qualify to be a party-list candidate.

The complainants told the HRET that the SC, in its ruling, stressed that persons nominated to be party-list representatives should belong to “marginalized and underrepresented organizations or parties.”

“Allowing retired military generals, and their police counterparts, to become nominees and representatives of party-list organizations would desecrate the hallowed intent of the party-list provision of the Constitution and violate the ruling of the SC in the case of Bagong Bayani that the party list system is reserved for the marginalized and underrepresented,” the complainants stressed.

“Palparan is not an alleged victim of communist rebels, and neither is he a former rebel,” they said.

They said that far from being a security guard, Palparan was actually an owner of a security agency that “figured in two mining disputes” in Bulacan and Zambales last year.

Palparan said Bantay represents civilians who are involved in maintaining peace and order and in securing the community such as security guards, barangay tanod members and personnel of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Units and former rebels.

In Davao City, the National Democratic Front Southern Mindanao said Palparan “is a walking murderer and human rights violator now scheming with the most powerful landlords and bureaucrat capitalists in the government’s highest legislative arena.”

NDF Southern Mindanao spokesperson Rubi del Mundo accused Palparan of being responsible for the abduction, torture and murder of activists and suspected rebels in Southern Tagalog, Central Luzon, Eastern Visayas and even in Mindanao.

The NDF spokesman said Palparan ordered the killings of human rights workers Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy as well as the abduction, illegal detention and torture of brothers Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo who had accused Palparan of masterminding the abduction of University of the Philippines students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan. The two are still missing.

“Even the GRP’s Supreme Court and the United Nations held him accountable for these gruesome crimes,” Del Mundo added.

Not blameless

Sen. Joker Arroyo said the Commission on Appointments should share the blame for Palparan’s rise in the military hierarchy and his eventual bagging of a House seat.

“The brouhaha over the ascension of Gen. Palparan as party-list representative could have been avoided if those who have been protesting his actuations as military commander did their homework,” Arroyo said.

In 2007, Arroyo recalled that the CA confirmed the promotion of Brig. Gen. Palparan to major general.

“Only Serge Osmeña III and myself from the Senate voted against Palparan’s confirmation precisely because of his human rights record. Palparan made it to two-star general and was given a new command until he retired to civilian life. Now he is a congressman,” Arroyo added.

“Why did those in the House who now protest his proclamation not work on the 12-member House contingent in the Commission to vote against his confirmation? Only one, Tony Roman, voted against Palparan,” the senator said.

SC firm

The SC said it is convinced that it made the right computation in its ruling on the party-list issue.

“No (our computation was not erroneous). We will just see what their grounds are in their motion for intervention,” Chief Justice Reynato Puno said in reaction to a petition filed by Speaker Prospero Nograles asking the SC to remove 20 of the party-list nominees because of supposed “erroneous computation” of the justices. He declined to comment on concerns raised by some lawmakers that there is no more space or budget in the House for additional party-list representatives.

“Our problem is a legal one, interpreting provisions of the constitution and other related laws. The other problems, like the lack of offices, etc., were not considered in resolving the constitutional issue there,” he explained.

Nograles said in his urgent motion for clarification in intervention that the High Court might have used “an erroneous base number” that altered the figures.

In seeking clarification from the Court, he argued that the SC ruling raised the membership of the House to 270, which is beyond the maximum of 250 set by the Constitution, adding that there is no national law yet passed by Congress allowing the increase of membership of the House. - With Christina Mendez, Edith Regalado, and Edu Punay