Raymond Manalo holds a sign calling for the prosecution of former Army general Jovito Palparan. (photo from NUPL Facebook page)
A Bulacan trial court has reset the arraignment, originally set for Tuesday, of retired Army general Jovito Palparan for the alleged abduction of two brothers from Bulacan province in 2006, human rights lawyers said.
The National Union of People’s Lawyers, which represents the Manalo brothers, said the arraignment was reset to June 21 because the assigned fiscal has to clarify with the Office of the Ombudsman who has the authority to prosecute the case.
Nevertheless, the court issued an alias warrant of arrest for Palparan’s co-accused.
Palparan is charged along with two sergeants and four militiamen for kidnapping and serious illegal detention over the abduction of Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo in San Ildefonso, Bulacan on February 14, 2006.
The brothers, who were suspected of being New People’s Army members, were held for a year, during which they were also allegedly tortured, until they managed to escape in August 2007.
Raymond is also the key prosecution witness in another criminal case Palparan is facing over the abduction and disappearance of University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno, also in Bulacan, in June 2006.
He said he met the two students in captivity and has testified to how they were tortured. He also said and farmer Manuel Merino, who was seized with Cadapan and Empeno, had been killed and his body burned by soldiers.
The National Union of People’s Lawyers, which represents the Manalo brothers, said the arraignment was reset to June 21 because the assigned fiscal has to clarify with the Office of the Ombudsman who has the authority to prosecute the case.
Nevertheless, the court issued an alias warrant of arrest for Palparan’s co-accused.
The NUPL said they would urge President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to help expedite the case and to “instruct concerned government agencies to join us NUPL as private prosecutors in seeking Palparan's transfer from Fort Bonifacio's ‘staycation’ to a regular civilian jail.”
The Bulacan court hearing the Empeno-Cadapan abduction case originally ordered Palparan detained at the provincial jail but later allowed him to be transferred to the headquarters of the Philippine Army.
http://interaksyon.com/article/128457/palparan-arraignment-for-bulacan-brothers-abduction-reset---nupl
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