PNoy ignored my husband’s phone call – Palparan wife

It was a snub that led to years in hiding.

Retired Army general Jovito Palparan would have surrendered immediately, had President Benigno Aquino III taken his call in 2011. At least, that’s what his wife, Dr. Evangelina Palparan, says.

 

“Tumwag [siya], gusto niya mag surrender, kaso inignore siya ni President Aquino,” Mrs. Palaparan said in an exclusive interview with GMA’s Dano Tingcungco aired on GMA News TV's State of the Nation with Jessica Soho on Wednesday night.

Earlier, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda confirmed that President Aquino was informed of surrender feelers from Palparan. Lacierda, however, said he could not recall why the surrender feelers from Palparan's camp did not gain ground.
 

Palparan had gone into hiding for nearly three years after being charged with kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges over the disappearance of UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño in Bulacan in 2006.

At the time of the incident, Palparan was commander of the Army 7th Infantry Division based in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.

 

Palparan, considered one of the country's "Big 5" fugitives, went into hiding in December 2011 after the Bulacan RTC issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with the disappearance of Cadapan and Empeño.

The former military officer was arrested Aug. 12 in Manila's Sta. Mesa district by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation and intelligence personnel from the Philppine Navy. At present, he is detained at the Bulacan Provincial Jail.



'Effective as a military man'

 

Despite the accusations against Palparan, Evangelina believes her husband is a mere victim of enemies he made while conducting anti-insurgency operations.

 

“I have decided to grant this interview, so as a family we can air our side, kasi forgive me for saying, yung left, yung kabila lang ang naririnig. Lahat na lang ng namamtay sa kaniya na lang sinisisi eh,” she said, adding that her husband was merely effective in his post as a military man.

 

“Naging effective siya eh, yung campaign niya sa anti-insurgency, very effective siya,” she said.

 

Palparan has earlier denied any involvement in the disappearance of Empeño and Cadapan. In Tingcungco’s undergraduate thesis on him, Palparan, however, admitted that two women were arrested the night that Cadapan and Empeño disappeared.

 

“Sabi ng tao ko, may ni-raid lang na bahay at 'yung dalawang babae at isang lalake, kinuha. may pangalan, sina ka Tanya at ka Sierra. Pero nagtanong ako sa mga tao dun, natutuwa sila sa [abduction.] Kasi sila 'yung nangongolekta at nananakit na NPA, kasama sila sa pumapatay at nagse-seminar,” Palparan said in 2007.

 

“The communists are doing this [blaming the disappearance on me] only because the biggest damage for them is the loss of the people's support,” he added.

 

But Lorena Santos or advocate group Desaparecidos Pilipinas remains unconvinced.

 

“Tingnan natin yung mga ebidensya na magtuturo kung sino ang kumuha sa dalawang estudyante. Bakit may mga witnesses na tumatayo, na nagsasabi na may hand si Palparan sa pagdukot, pagtorture at pagkawala sa kanilang dalawa?” she said, adding that Palparan’s claim that his troops arreted two NPA members on the night of the students’ disappearance is unlikely, since no arrested NPA members were ever presented.
 

“Kung sino man sila, ipakita nila kung sino ang dalawang 'to,” she said. — Patricia Denise Chiu/RSJ, GMA News