Malolos court denies Palparan appeal

THE APPEAL of retired military general Jovito S. Palparan, Jr. over his conviction for kidnapping and serious legal detention of two student activists in 2006 has been denied by a Malolos City court.
In an order dated Nov. 15, Judge Alexander P. Tamayo of Malolos City regional trial court (RTC) Branch 15 said there were no new issues raised in the appeal.
The judge wrote that Mr. Palparan “emphatically relied” on the alleged inconsistencies of the witnesses and the “purported questionable actuations” displayed by witnesses in reference to the kidnapping of the students.
“Thus, these asseverations which they posited in their Memorandum filed in the instant cases are rehash of their previous stand which had been passed upon and resolved extensively in the assailed decision,” the order read. The “voluntary surrender” alleged by Mr. Palparan in his Supplemental Motion also lacked merit, Mr. Tamayo ruled.
“(F)inding no additional and/or new points raised to outweigh the settled position of the court, the Motion for Reconsideration, as well as the Supplemental Motion, is denied for lack of merit.”
Based on the Revised Penal Code, the punishment for kidnapping with serious illegal detention is “reclusion perpetua to death,” which is an indivisible penalty.
Mr. Tamayo ruled that even if a mitigating circumstance is considered, “the lesser penalty to be imposed is reclusion perpetua.”
Mr. Palparan, tagged as “The Butcher,” along with Lt. Col. Felipe G. Anotado, Jr. and S/Sgt. Edgardo Osorio, were convicted last Sept. 17 for the abduction and serious illegal detention of University of the Philippines students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan.
They have been sentenced to reclusion perpetua or 20-40 years of imprisonment.
The retired army general was transferred to the New Bilibid Prison on Oct. 4.
A warrant of arrest was issued against Mr. Palparan in 2011 but was only caught in 2014 after he went into hiding.
The two students were conducting research on the situation of farmers in Bulacan in 2006 when they were kidnapped. They have yet to be found. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas