Palparan enjoying special treatment in Bilibid – NUPL

Retired Army Major General Jovito Palparan was "unduly enjoying" special treatment in prison even after he was convicted for the disappearance of two student activists in 2006, the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL) said Tuesday.

Palparan was sentenced to up to 40 years in prison for the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño. He was transferred from military custody to the New Bilibid Prison more than two weeks after his conviction in 2018.

But the retired general continued to "make a mockery of the law and the judicial system" as he continued to get "special privileges" in prison, the NUPL said.

The lawyers' group asked the Malolos City Regional Trial Court Branch 15, where Palparan was on trial for the kidnapping of farmer Raymond Manalo, to end  the alleged special treatment.

They claimed the former general had been "overstaying" at the Bilibid's Directorate for Reception and Diagnostics, where inmates were evaluated for not more than 60 days, and had been acting as "governor" or "mayor de mayores" to about 1,500 inmates there.

He was also "given unbridled access to the computer and the internet and many other privileges that are otherwise deprived to other inmates," the NUPL claimed.

The group also cited Palparan's on-camera interview with former Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson last year, which they said was conducted "without prior permission from the trial court" where he has a pending case.

"In the said interview, Palparan called his conviction a 'miscarriage of justice' and made self-serving comments on the pending cases to a public officer who happens to be a social media promoter of President Rodrigo Duterte, thus lobbying for extraneous influence from a co-equal branch of the Philippine government," the NUPL said.

The lawyers' union also claimed that his imprisonment at the national penitentiary was "delayed for the flimsiest reasons."

They had previously accused the military of "coddling" Palparan for keeping him in its custody even after the conviction. The Armed Forces at the time claimed it was waiting for a court ruling on where he should be detained.

The NUPL said the retired general, through his alleged acts, "brings the courts into disrepute" and "continues to frustrate the attainment of justice for his victims and affront the fundamental principle of civilian supremacy over the military."

GMA News Online had sought comment from the Bureau of Corrections, which had yet to respond as of posting time. — DVM, GMA News