Priest in alleged Palparan hit list willing to testify

MANILA, Philippines - A priest allegedly among those in the supposed hit list of Jovito Palparan yesterday declared he is willing to testify and present proof of the atrocities committed by the retired Army general.

Edu Gariguez claimed he was among those being hunted down by Palparan when he was once assigned in Mindoro.

“I was one of those he was hunting. There is reportedly a list of dissident terrorists. So my bishop at that time, Bishop Warlito Cajindig, sent me away to study because at that time there were many extrajudicial killings in Mindoro. We were documenting and it was in my computer,” he said.

Eleven years ago, Gariguez was executive director of Peasant-Net, a founding leader of Alyansa Laban sa Mina, and part-time staff for Mangyan Mission.

Gariguez said he was in the top six on Palparan’s hit list.

Gariguez said they earlier sent a document detailing Palparan’s atrocities to then Armed Forces chief Angelo Reyes and to Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman.

He said they were able to document about 15 statements from people who were tortured, killed and mutilated allegedly by Palparan.

Gariguez said that he was willing to share information against the retired military general. “If ever they need someone to testify I would offer. If they would prosecute Palparan, if needed, then I would be willing to testify,” Gariguez said.

“During his reign of terror, Palparan lumped together all those in progressive movements, even people from the church doing justice advocacy for the poor, and they were targeted for assassination,” he said.

Gariguez, now executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace (NASSA), admitted that even if he was relieved to see Palparan behind bars, he remained apprehensive.

“Palparan remains to be influential and powerful because the military protection is still there. I am still apprehensive. The human rights violations were really serious… This will be a real challenge to our justice system on how it would deal with influential, powerful people,” he said.

The human rights group Karapatan in Central Luzon also urged the Department of Justice to file more charges against Palparan, imputing that the former Army general was behind 154 summary executions and 66 disappearances in the region from 2005 to 2006.

Cecille Ruiz of Karapatan Central Luzon said the arrest of Palparan has emboldened the families of human rights victims to come out and testify.

Ruiz said Karapatan’s count of victims of summary executions and disappearances did not include the supposed human rights violations committed by Palparan during his stint as commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division that covered Central and Northern Luzon from September 2005 to September  2006.

Eco Dangla, secretary general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) in Central Luzon, said his group is now talking to other victims to consolidate evidence against the retired general.

A joint statement by Karapatan and Bayan said the arrest of Palparan was long overdue.

On the other hand, Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon accused the DOJ of giving special treatment to Palparan.

Ridon said the DOJ allowed the former general to hold a press conference at the main office of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) after he was arrested.

“Who specifically granted permission for Palparan’s press conference? Allowing Palparan to hold his very own press conference inside NBI premises proves that there is special treatment for the embattled retired general,” he said.

Ridon wondered if the NBI would grant the same privilege to other suspects. – With Jess Diaz, Ding Cervantes, Edu Punay, Paolo Romero