CA affirms indictment of Palparan

MANILA, Philippines — The Court of Appeals (CA) has upheld the indictment and arrest of retired Army Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. over the disappearance of two students of the University of the Philippines in 2006.

In a 15-page decision obtained by The STAR yesterday, the CA Fourth Division affirmed a decision of the Malolos regional trial court (RTC) rejecting Palparan’s motion to quash the kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges, and the petition to recall the arrest warrant issued against him.

The CA also dismissed Palparan’s petition seeking to reverse the RTC ruling. It said the petitioner failed to prove his claims that the trial court had no jurisdiction.

The ruling, penned by Associate Justice Carmelita Manahan, said the allegations raised by Palparan in his petition for certiorari were factual and evidentiary in nature and should be ventilated in a full-blown trial. 

After three years in hiding, Palparan was arrested by a joint team of the National Bureau of Investigation and the Armed Forces’ Naval Intelligence Group in Sta. Mesa, Manila in August 2014.

The Malolos RTC issued the warrant for his arrest in 2011 in connection with the kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges filed by relatives of missing UP students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan.

The Department of Justice earlier said Palparan directly participated in the detention of Empeño and Cadapan, based on the testimony of witness Raymond Manalo.

Manalo was seized and tortured by the military from February 2006 until he escaped in August 2007.

During his detention, Manalo witnessed the torture the two students suffered at the hands of their captors, who were believed to be Palparan’s men. 

In 2007, the CA ruled that Manalo’s testimony was “clear, consistent and convincing” and ordered the Armed Forces to produce the bodies of the students.