MANILA, Philippines - The three-year hunt for the man described as “The Butcher” by left-wing militants ended early yesterday in a former safe house of communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Manila.
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan sought refuge in a two-story house in Sta. Mesa district for four months until agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) cornered him at 3 a.m.
The dilapidated building on Teresita Street was not only near the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), but is also surrounded by NPA-infested slums, a source from the NBI said.
“That’s why we initially had misgivings on the information provided to us,” the source added.
Palparan knew his days were numbered. The 64-year-old former Army general calmly faced the media and said he realized his world as a fugitive was getting smaller.
“I am also human, we also fail,” a gaunt Palparan said.
He had just gotten up from his makeshift bed when he was cornered. He said noises coming from the rusty galvanized roof above his bedroom window roused him from sleep.
When he peeked out to check the source of the noise, an armed NBI agent immediately went in and frisked him.
“General Palparan, NBI ito,” Palparan said, quoting the arresting agent.
Palparan, clad in a T-shirt and knee-length walking shorts, said it was pointless to resist.
“If there will be an arrest, I will not counter, I’ll give myself up,” he said.
When he gave up, the bearded and frail-looking former general was asked to change into more appropriate clothes.
Then they brought him to the NBI main office in Manila, where he shaved off his speckled beard before facing the press.
Palparan was booked and examined by government doctors. He weighed less than a hundred pounds, had sore feet and blood pressure of 130/80.
During his stay at the safe house, Palparan said he even witnessed anti-Palparan protest rallies being held near his hideout.
“It is not my intention to stay there. I know that it is very near PUP. In fact, I pass them by whenever they hold a rally. There were even anti-Palparan placards. It was just a choice of my convenience, another consideration,” Palparan said.
Spotted
ISAFP chief Maj. Gen. Eduardo Año said Palparan has been staying in the house of his friend Grace Roa for three months.
The fugitive ex-general was spotted withdrawing money from a nearby automated teller machine before he was arrested.
“They served the warrant of arrest in the house of a certain Grace Roa. The warrant was served and General Palparan really did not resist arrest,” Año said.
“In fact, he was joking with our operatives and he was saying ‘you were good. You got one on me because I was very lax’,” he added.
Año said the arrest would provide Palparan an opportunity to face the allegations against him and to defend himself in court.
“At the same time, this will allow him to attend to some of his health concerns because he has been suffering from various illnesses, so this is the time for him to be able to have a proper medical checkup,” he added.
Año said Palparan has been suffering from heart problems, diabetes and high blood pressure.
Palparan, for his part, said life as a fugitive was very difficult.
Palparan said he would not encourage those hiding from the law. He said he had fears and apprehensions everyday during his life on the run.
“Very difficult. I don’t encourage those who want to hide from justice. It’s not a very easy thing to do. I would rather be in jail than living in constant threat everyday… there is always that fear and apprehension. You cannot do things you used to do,” he said.
Palparan said he wanted to surrender but could not because of the threat on his life. What further discouraged him from surfacing was the pronouncement by the NPA that he was a “dead man walking.”
Palparan, who had a P2-million bounty for his arrest, claimed he did not go into hiding because he was guilty but rather because he feared for his safety.
Palparan, called “The Butcher” by militant groups, had been in hiding for more than two years. A Bulacan court issued an arrest warrant against Palparan in 2011.
The former Army general is charged with two counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention in the alleged abduction of UP students Karen Empeño and Sherilyn Cadapan in Hagonoy, Bulacan on June 26, 2006.
Admission of guilt
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Palparan’s hiding for almost three years could be an aggravating circumstance in proving his guilt on the charges against him.
“If you hide for so long, these are points against you because instead of justifying circumstance, what will be credited will be exempting or aggravating circumstances because flight is an admission of guilt. That is basic,” De Lima said.
De Lima said the case against Palparan pending with Malolos, Bulacan Regional Trial Court Branch 14, which has not moved since it was filed in December 2011, may now finally proceed.
Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera, who is handling the cases, agreed with De Lima’s position.
“Flight is an indication of guilt. That’s well established,” he said.
Navera further explained that since Palparan appeared during the earlier preliminary investigation in the Department of Justice, his flight after the filing of the case in court would show “aggravating circumstance applied to him.”
Now that Palparan is arrested, Navera said the case against the retired general would proceed.
Despite the delay in his arrest, Malacañang lauded the efforts of authorities in capturing Palparan.
“With his arrest, he may now be brought before the bar of justice and go through the process of accountability,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda commended the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the NBI for their “steadfast doggedness in pursuing all leads to find and capture” Palparan.
“This resolute determination has paid off, the long arm of the law has finally reached Mr. Palparan. President Aquino promised that those who evade the law will be found. That promise to capture General Palparan has been fulfilled,” Lacierda said.
Officials admitted that bringing in the high profile personality such as Palparan was not an easy task.
“We are soldiers and we were taught that we should not be captured. Perhaps he was able to use the tactics and techniques on escape and evasion,” Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said.
“Perhaps it is destiny that General Palparan is arrested,” he added.
Prior to his arrest, Palparan was said to have sought refuge in Bataan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija and Cagayan de Oro.
“There were many attempts that were made in the past together with the NBI but we failed and finally, there was a breakthrough with the splendid effort of our NISF (Naval Intelligence and Security Force),” Año added.
With the arrest of Palparan, the Philippine National Police (PNP) is now poised to locate other fugitives.
National police spokesman Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac said the PNP would try to locate other fugitives, particularly former Palawan governor Joel Reyes and his brother, Coron ex-mayor Mario Reyes, and former Dinagat Island Rep. Ruben Ecleo Jr.. each with a P2-million bounty. – Alexis Romero, Aurea Calica, Edu Punay, Cecille Suerte Felipe