Church leaders join efforts to bring Palparan to justice
“We are watching very closely. The present administration must demonstrate that the Philippines has turned the page and a new chapter where freedom and justice prevail has begun.” – Beaconsfield United Church of Canada
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
Bulatlat.com
MANILA –Church leaders have called on their faithful to help in hunting down retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr.
Palparan, charged with kidnapping and serious illegal detention in connection with the disappearance of the two missing University of the Philippines (UP) students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, remains in hiding after a court ordered his arrest last Dec. 20. A P1-million bounty has been offered for information leading to Palparan’s arrest.
Speaking in a press conference, Bishop Reuel Norman Marigza, general secretary of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP) said their Church has also experienced the anguish of losing pastors and lay leaders in Palparan’s ‘gruesome litany of death.’
Marigza cited the killing of Isaias Manano, Rev. Edison Lapuz and the disappearance of Pastor Andy Pawican and blamed the ‘not-so-mysterious death squads that shadowed Palparan wherever and whenever he was assigned.
Manano, son of a UCCP pastor and the local church’s youth leader, was gunned down on April 28, 2004 in Calapan City, Mindoro Oriental. At that time, Palparan was assigned in the province as then commanding officer of the 204th Infantry Battalion.
Church leaders call on their faithful to help hunt down retired Army Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr.(Photo by Ronalyn V. Olea/ bulatlat.com)
Lapuz, meanwhile, was killed by motorcycle-riding men on May 12, 2005 in San Isidro, Leyte. Palparan was then the commanding officer of the 8th Infantry Division, which covers Eastern Visayas.
On May 21, 2006, Pawican, then assigned at the UCCP outreach congregation in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija, was taken by soldiers of the 48th Infantry Battalion for questioning. He was killed. His months-old daughter, who was with him the day he was taken, was returned with his blood on her dress. At that time, Palparan was the commanding officer of the Philippine Army’s 7th Infantry Division based in Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija.
In the same vein, Rev. Fr. Lorenzo Anievas of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and governor general of the National Priest Organization, related how their members became victims of violence perpetrated by state agents.
Anievas cited the killing of Fr. William Tadena and Supreme Bishop Alberto Ramento, both of whom were staunch supporters of Hacienda Luisita farm workers.
“If they can kill leaders of the Church, what else could they do to ordinary people who only fight for land, jobs and the right to a decent life?” Anievas said..... MORESource: Bulatlat.com
URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/01/13/church-leaders-join-efforts-to-bring-palparan-to-justice/
1 comment
ok ito. pero bakit noong panahon ni dorobo arrobo medyo tahimik kayo? kung nagsipagingay sabay.sabay noon ay baka naisalba pa ang buhay nina sheryn at karen at iba pa...........saka bakit ang simbahan katolika wala yatang direktang papel dito ah. noon ay may may SUV's eh hanggang ngayon ba? lol.
"Anievas cited the killing of Fr. William Tadena and Supreme Bishop Alberto Ramento, both of whom were staunch supporters of Hacienda Luisita farm workers.
“If they can kill leaders of the Church, what else could they do to ordinary people who only fight for land, jobs and the right to a decent life?” Anievas said"
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