Where is the ‘Butcher’?

It would be 20 years this week since University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño were abducted by military forces in Bulacan, in one of the most notorious desaparecido or forced disappearance cases in the post-Marcos martial law years.

Witnesses testified in court that the two young activists were abducted from a house in Hagonoy, Bulacan on June 26, 2006 and taken to military camps under then Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, commanding general of the Philippine Army’s 7th Infantry Division, in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.

According to witnesses, they were subjected to unspeakable torture. It would take years before the grieving families of Cadapan and Empeño would get some measure of justice against Palparan, then a powerful general hailed for his bloody operations against communist insurgents.

Article continues after this advertisement

Human rights group Karapatan noted that killings followed Palparan wherever he was assigned, with at least 326 human rights violations in Oriental Mindoro, 570 in Eastern Visayas, and 71 summary executions in Central Luzon. This earned Palparan the ”Butcher” tag.

FEATURED STORIES

OPINION

OPINION

OPINION

Life in prison

But to then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Palparan was nothing short of a hero for his role in implementing her administration’s anti-communist drive “Oplan Bantay Laya.” In her 2006 State of the Nation Address, she gave Palparan a special mention, at the time when Cadapan’s and Empeño’s families were seeking the Supreme Court’s intervention to surface their missing daughters. He even went on to represent a party list group in the House.

It would not be until 2011 that criminal charges were filed against Palparan and his men. Like other well-connected personalities, Palparan went into hiding and evaded the law until he was arrested in 2014. In 2018, Palparan and two others finally got their due—a Bulacan trial court found them guilty of kidnapping and serious illegal detention of the two activists and sentenced them to life in prison.

Yet for the families, that victory was bittersweet. Cadapan and Empeño remain missing.

Article continues after this advertisement

Even though they have not attained closure, the families recently received concerning news: Palparan is reportedly no longer at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City, where he is supposed to serve his life sentence.

Special privileges

Erlinda Cadapan and Concepcion Empeño, mothers of Sherlyn and Karen, said all Supreme Court notices sent to Palparan were returned unserved. They cited a high court resolution dated Aug. 11, 2025, with an annotation that Palparan was “moved out (transferred to BuCor-Baguio)” on Feb. 27, 2026, while another resolution dated Oct. 13, 2025, had a note that Palparan was “moved out” to the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in Baguio City.

The mothers filed a manifestation with the Supreme Court to ascertain Palparan’s whereabouts from the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and return him to the NBP.

Article continues after this advertisement

The National Union of People’s Lawyers and other human rights groups joined the call for full disclosure of Palparan’s incarceration, noting that he repeatedly enjoyed special privileges during his trial and detention, including being held at Fort Bonifacio rather than a regular detention facility. It also said Palparan was reportedly not held in a regular prison cell at the NBP, and was once allowed an on-camera interview despite strict rules against it.

BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio Catapang denied that Palparan was transferred to the PMA, and gave assurances that there was no record of any transfer concerning Palparan.

“The BuCor continues to uphold its commitment to lawful procedures, and Palparan remains securely detained at the NBP,” the BuCor said in a statement.

20-year-old question

But the BuCor’s words are hardly reassuring. Given the BuCor’s many controversies, including special privileges for powerful and influential inmates, it must show proof that the convicted Palparan is inside its prisons—and that he is not being given any special treatment he was so accustomed to getting.

It has not explained the annotations on the mails addressed to Palparan in the NBP, and the high court must get to the bottom of it. Until then, the anguished lament of Empeño’s mother, Concepcion, will haunt them: “Lubos ang aming paghihinagpis sa mga pangyayari, ang iniisip ko, sino kaya ang nasa likod ng nangyayaring ito sa ating lipunan, sobrang ano, napakalakas ang impluwensya ng berdugo at iba pang nakatataas sa ating lipunan, kung iisipin natin, sino kaya, kanino nagmula ang kautusan na siya ay mailipat sa PMA.”

Beyond issuing impersonal press statements, the BuCor must allow the bereaved families a visit to personally see Palparan in his jail cell, in order to dispel once and for all the doubts about his incarceration.

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.

Your subscription has been successful.

Palparan must serve the full measure of his sentence. He must serve time—every minute of it—and maybe in one of those solitary moments, he will find the courage and the grace to answer the families’ 20-year-old question: Where are their daughters?