NBP: Mothers of missing UP students met with Palparan in Bilibid

MANILA, Philippines — The mothers and lawyers of missing University of the Philippines (UP) students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño were allowed to enter the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City on Thursday to determine for themselves if former Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan remains incarcerated there.

NBP director Superintendent Gary Garcia said in a statement that Erlinda Cadapan and Concepcion Empeño saw Palparan at the minimum security compound for “over an hour.”

READ: Where is the ‘Butcher’?

Article continues after this advertisement

Garcia said the move was meant “to eliminate doubts” after the mothers and their lawyers formally asked the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to confirm the whereabouts of Palparan.

FEATURED STORIES

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

READ: Jovito Palparan whereabouts questioned over returned court notices

The meeting with the former military official was followed by the arrival of special investigators from the Commission on Human Rights, who are also conducting their own probe into the convict’s status.

Dubbed as the “Butcher” for the numerous deaths reported in areas where he was assigned, Palparan was convicted in 2018 by a Bulacan court for two counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention over the disappearances of the UP students.

Witnesses’ accounts

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

Article continues after this advertisement

This month marks the 20th year since Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño went missing.

“I wish they had made the request before so that there would be no more confusion because the BuCor is willing and our agency is transparent when it comes to such things,” Garcia said.

Article continues after this advertisement

The mothers and their lawyers had filed a manifestation before the Supreme Court on June 9, urging it to compel the BuCor to release information on the location of Palparan after they learned that he was supposedly no longer being held at NBP.

This was after official notices sent to him returned unserved, with the envelopes bearing postal notes that said: “Moved out (transferred to BuCor-Baguio) and “Moved out to PMA (Philippine Military Academy) Baguio.” /cb

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.

Your subscription has been successful.