MASINLOC, Zambales—The parents of missing University of the Philippines (UP) student Karen Empeño have renewed the call to convict retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, who was tagged in the forced disappearance of their daughter 11 years ago in Hagonoy, Bulacan.
In a news statement released on Tuesday, two days before the final hearing of the case filed against Palparan for kidnapping and serious illegal detention, Oscar and Concepcion Empeño lamented the suffering they have endured on account of their daughter’s disappearance, and urged the authorities to impose “the full measure of the law” on the former Army two-star general.
“If we value the sanctity of life, and if we value the rule of law, and if we should teach our children that both must be held inviolable as the foundation of the society we live in, then we must convict the ‘Butcher’ now,” Karen’s parents said.
“We have waited for too long for our Karen to return,” they added. “And each year that she has remained missing is for us another 365 days of torture, of longing, of unappeased anger and a burning desire for retribution.”
Karen, along with another UP student Sherlyn Cadapan and farmer Manuel Merino, was forcibly taken by armed men from a village in Hagonoy, Bulacan, on June 26, 2006. They have not returned to their families ever since.
Witnesses, who said they have also been abducted by the same group of armed men, pointed to Palparan as the mastermind of the disappearance of the two UP students who were then in Bulacan for research projects.
The kidnapping case against Palparan, who has been given the appellation of The Butcher for the alleged torture and extrajudicial killings of activists during his stint with the military, was filed by the mothers of the two UP coeds, Concepcion Empeño and Linda Cadapan.
The retired Army general stands accused with three others: retired Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado Jr.; M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario, who remains at large; and S/Sgt. Edgardo Osorio.
The case will be heard for the last time today (February 15) at the Regional Trial Court in Malolos, said the group Pamilya ng Desaparecidos Para sa Katarungan (Desaparecidos), which has taken the call to convict Palparan.
In their statement, the Empeño couple pointed out that witnesses have positively identified Palparan to be in the same place where Karen and Sherlyn were supposed to be hidden and tortured.
“These accusations against The Butcher Palparan are shared by hundreds of fathers and mothers, and sisters and brothers, whose own kin were subjected to forced disappearances and extrajudicial executions,” Oscar and Concepcion Empeño said, noting that reports compiled by human-rights groups linked Palparan to 71 cases of extrajudicial killings, 14 frustrated killings and five massacres during his stint in Mindoro alone.
They added that Palparan “deserves the full measure of the law that he has flouted and ignored and bastardized for so long,” as well as “the loudest condemnation from everyone who holds freedom and life as sacrosanct.”
The grieving parents also said that while they have endured years of suffering, the families of Palparan’s alleged victims now demand justice.
“Let us all end this now and clear our lives of this horror by convicting The Butcher Palparan. Let us rid society of this monster and ensure that no one could take away our daughters and sons, our loved ones, with impunity,” they added.