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When Philippine Army general Jovito Palparan retired
from the military last year the communist New People’s Army (NPA)
said he was a “dead man walking.”
Palparan later described the
threat an “honor,” coming from the NPA.
He boasted that despite the
threat, he still picked up his groceries and went to the movies
alone, without bodyguards.
Loathed by the Left, who call him
“The Butcher,” Palparan, now in semiretirement, is finding
himself at the center of a growing storm over political killings in
the country.
The findings of a special
government commission of inquiry into extrajudicial killings said
Palparan “left a trail of blood or bodies in his wake wherever he
was assigned.”
The findings of the Melo
Commission inquiry said there was “circumstantial evidence”
linking Palparan, 56, to the killings of leftists.
GMA favorite
But the mild-mannered former
general, married to a dentist, with three children, makes no
apologies about his hard-line approach to the country’s
39-year-old communist insurgency.
Others see Palparan as a true
patriot defending his country from the scourge of communism.
Even President Arroyo praised him
during her State of the Nation address last year when she said:
“General Palparan will not back down until the darkness of terror
gives way to the dawn of freedom.”
Now her favored general is
finding himself at the center of a growing storm that will not go
away.
Retired Supreme Court justice
Jose Melo’s report has rocked the administration and the military,
which is out to defend one of its own.
But for rights activists, it has
vindicated much of what they have been saying for years.
The Melo report said Palparan
and his men could be “responsible for an undetermined number of
killings by allowing, tolerating and even encouraging the
killings.”
The general, who has fought
Muslim rebels, rightist military coup plotters and even served a
short stint with the Philippine contingent in Iraq in 2004, is now
facing one of his biggest battles.
All fronts
Palparan has denied any
wrongdoing, but said the civilian populace in areas where he
operated might have been inspired by his example to take revenge on
the guerrillas who abused them.
“Many of these people who have
been victims or relatives of the victims also desire to exact
revenge. They take action by themselves, take the law into their
hands because they feel that justice is not coming,” Palparan
said.
He directly accused leftist
activists, political parties and non-government organizations of
being fronts for the rebels, saying “it’s actually … the
militants and the party list organizations who are the ones
directing or commanding the NPA.”
The communists hate him because
“I confront them in all aspects,” not just on the battlefield
but in their intelligence networks, support groups and propaganda
campaigns, Palparan said.
After his retirement, Palparan
has remained as Arroyo’s chief adviser on her campaign to crush
the NPA.
The President has repeatedly
backed Palparan, and said he was central to defeating the communists
before she steps down in 2010.
“Jovito Palparan will stand up
to the enemy,” she has said.
Unlike other military officers
who gained celebrity status in this country, Palparan is not tall,
muscular or handsome, nor is he a graduate of the elite Philippine
Military Academy (PMA), the local version of West Point.
He rose through the ranks as a
reservist, and has earned the reputation of being a good field
strategist who has the president’s ear.
--AFP
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