Political detainee support group Kapatid again called attention to the special treatment the convicted kidnapper Jovito Palparan is enjoying from the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).
Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim pointed out that the retired major general is being held at the minimum security compound of the National Bilibid Prison instead of the maximum security compound where convicts of serious crimes are supposedly held.
“Even General Jovito Palparan, convicted of kidnapping and serious illegal detention, is held in the minimum security compound, while political prisoners continue to face institutional discrimination,” Lim said.
“What kind of justice system criminalizes food delivery and compassion, but shields those guilty of human rights abuses?” Lim asked.
Double standards
Lim complained to the Department of Justice against her ban by the Bucor from visiting political prisoners and posting her photo at the Correction Institution for Women (CIW) with the word “BANNED.”
Lim was denied entry to CIW on May 25 while delivering food to political prisoner Rona Degoso, a 25-year-old political prisoner newly transferred from Negros Occidental.
In a formal letter sent to Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on July 8, Lim called for an impartial investigation, the removal of her photo, the lifting of the ban, and accountability for BuCor officials behind what she described as “a misuse of public authority to intimidate and silence humanitarian action.”
Softer treatment
Rights group Karapatan also revealed earlier that Palparan, nicknamed “The Butcher” for his record of killing many activists during the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime, enjoys preferential treatment from the BuCor.
“A prevailing culture of impunity shields those who perpetrate enforced disappearances and other rights violations,” Karapatan said in June.
Palparan was convicted for kidnapping University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno in June 2006 in Hagonoy, Bulacan.
Both activists remain missing.
Witness and state abduction survivor Raymond Manalo told the Malolos Regional Trial Court he was a fellow prisoner at a Philippine Army camp in Bataan province where the two students were being tortured.
Manalo’s testimony led to Palparan’s conviction in September 2018 after years of hiding. He is sentenced to up to 40 years in prison.
In April 2022, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), lawyers to Cadapan, Empeno and Manalo, petitioned the Court of Appeals to hold in contempt former BuCor chief – himself in hiding after being accused of masterminding the assassination of hard-hitting broadcaster Percy Lapid in 2022 – for allowing SMNI to interview Palparan while in jail.
The NUPL said the interview was a violation of the 2000 BuCor operations manual.
Kapatid said BuCor’s special treatment of Palparan is “especially appalling” if compared to the plight of political prisoners.
Lim cited the cases of like Rommel Arquillo, 46, and Sonny Tambalque, 65, who both died in the NBP Maximum Security Compound within just 55 days of each other from “preventable and treatable illnesses” and despite being jailed mere meters from the prison hospital.
Lim condemned the “stark double standards where convicted state agents are coddled, while political prisoners suffer neglect and die in custody.”
“[This] exposes the deep cracks in our justice system,” Lim said.
Kapatid urges BuCor to immediately transfer Palparan to the maximum security compound, saying “accountability must not be selective.” | via Kodao Productions
