Erlinda Cadapan and Concepcion Empeno with pictures of their missing daughters, UP students Sherlyn and Karen. (InterAksyon.com file)
The human rights group Karapatan on Wednesday said the inhibition of the judge trying retired Army general Jovito Palparan and two other soldiers for the abduction and disappearance of University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno would "inexcusably" delay justice.
Judge Teodora Gonzales of Regional Trial Court Branch 14 in Malolos, Bulacan inhibited herself in an order dated June 13 granting the motion filed by lawyer Bonifacio Alentajan, counsel of Palparan’s co-accused, Army Staff Sergeant Edgar Osorio.
The third accused is Colonel Felipe Antonado Jr. All three are detained at Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio.
In his motion, Alentajan accused Gonzales of “by manifest partiality, evident bad faith, and gross inexcusable negligence” for denying his motion to quash the information against Osorio.
He also claimed Gonzales’ comments during the June 1 presentation of witness Adoracion Paulino showed “partiality towards the prosecution.”
While denying Alentajan’s allegations, “… nevertheless, to preserve and promote public confidence in the integrity and respect for the judiciary, the presiding judge is voluntarily inhibiting herself from further taking cognizance of the instant case,” Gonzales said in her order.
Reacting to Gonzales’ decision, Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said her inhibition had “inexcusably delayed” the indictment of Palparan and his co-accused “while the mothers and fathers of Cadapan and Empeno remain anguished, the witnesses’ lives and security remain in danger.”
Karapatan had earlier decried Gonzales’ decision to allow Palparan’s transfer from the Bulacan provincial jail to Army headquarters September last year, calling his detention there a “staycation.”
Empeno and Cadapan were abducted along with farmer Manuel Merino in Bulacan in June 2006.
Accused of masterminding their enforced disappearance, the Malolos RTC ordered Palparan arrested in 2009.
However, he went into hiding and was captured in Sta. Mesa, Manila only in August last year.
Dubbed the “Butcher” by human rights advocates, Palparan has been blamed for human rights violations, including summary executions and enforced disappearances, in the areas he was assigned to as an Army commander.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/115563/rights-group-laments-delay-in-case-vs-palparan-with-judges-inhibition
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