Palparan: ‘We’ve got to hate the movement’

(Editor’s note: This was first published in the May 7, 2006 of Newsbreak magazine. We are republishing it in light of the September 17, 2018 decision of a Bulacan court convicting retired army major general Jovito Palparan for the kidnapping and serious illegal detention in 2006 of UP students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan. The republished version  has been edited for style and brevity.)

 

PAMPANGA, Philippines – It was on April Fools’ Day that Major General Jovito Palparan Jr first set foot in this longtime stronghold of the communist armies.

That the Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan or the 1939 Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s Army (NPA), and the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan of the Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines maintain their mass bases here did not daunt the self-styled counterinsurgency expert. It was also a few days after the NPA observed its 37th founding anniversary. Palparan, arriving by noon in one of sev eral cars he uses, strode confidently to the school gym in Barangay San Jose Malino. In casual clothes, he looked more like a golfer than a two-star general. But he wouldn’t let go of his military persona.

Before being put on-cam for a television interview, he asked for time to be able to don his Philippine Army uniform, complete with the insignia of the command he leads, Kaugnay, the 7th Infantry Division based in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija. Over lunch, he talked about some of the military’s successes.

The five-month campaign in Mexico has liberated the town from the influence of the rebels. The remaining tasks, he added, was to pursue them at the border, block their attempts to regain supposed lost ground in Mexico, and “completely clear” all towns of rebels.

He had set an incredibly high goal that other commanders before him had not attained. By September 11, 2006 – the day he turns 56 and retires from the Armed Forces of the Philippines – he aims to have cleared the seven provinces of Central Luzon of insurgents.

“We’re talking more or less of 1,400 guerrillas. That’s very small,” he said. In the balance of forces, that’s one rebel for every 10 soldiers in Palparan’s division of two brigades and six battalions.

But how could he easily defeat the CPP’s army, which has behind it 37 years of rural and urban warfare? Palaparan was silent on the hows. “Paninindigan ko ‘yan (I’ll live up to that goal),” he said when met with disbelief.

A warrior through and through

He stares at you straight in the eye, and shifts easily from being downright serious to jolly. Right off, he said there would be no end to his rebel-hunting days, saying, “I will retire, yes, but I will not retire from my counter-insurgency work. I will just be removing my military uniform.” Then, the lanky general buckled down to work.

Giving “anti-communist” workshops was a task usually left to battalion commanders. But he did it by himself with the energies of a lieutenant and the theatrics of a pastor. For 6 hours, starting at 3 pm, he rattled off the “evils of communism” to more than 600 people described as “former communist supporters” gathered for two days at a nearby gym. Then from 9 pm till midnight, he organized them in groups to plan “how as victims you can be actors in bringing peace and making it reign in the town.”

That wasn’t the end of it. He returned the next day, joining them for an “anti-communist rally,” the biggest to be organized in the town by the military since the 1980s. He also spoke, repeating what he said at the workshop. There was emphasis, however, on one thing. That the military was going to stay longer in Mexico to help in its “development,” projecting soldiers as “partners.”

“I’m at the forefront of this fight, militarily or propaganda-wise,” he said. The man certainly does not hide his passion against, in his favorite phrase, the “enemies of the state.”

Trail of killings

Palparan took command of the 7th Infantry Division based in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, in September 2005. Even before he was assigned there, political activists in Central Luzon were being killed at an average of one per week in 2005. That year, 51 murders, mostly of peasants, were counted by the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL).

The killings stepped up when Palparan arrived. From January to March 2006 alone, the killings appeared to have increased, with 21 dead. The number of murdered activists in the last 15 months surpassed the number of rebels killed in clashes for the same period, reports showed.

“The reign of terror has always been there, focused on leaders and members of people’s organizations or party-list groups, not on armed combatants,” said Joseph Canlas, AMGL chair. The regularity of the killings, leaders of activist groups said, indicate “state-condoned violence” against unarmed progressives.

Palparan, they claim, is “consistent” in his track record of human rights violations. As commander of the 24th Infantry Battalion in Bataan, also in Central Luzon, from 1989 to 1991, Palparan’s supposed record includes 7 “salvagings (summary execution),” a massacre, an abduction, 5 incidents of harassment, 5 illegal arrest and detention, two cases of grenade bombing, and a case of aerial assault.”

‘Berdugo’

As chief of the 8th Infantry Division in Samar and Leyte from February 18 to April 20, 2005, the general’s shortest stint ever, he was accused of the killing of 5 people, two frustrated murders, 5 abductions, 5 harassments, two incidents of destruction of property, 5 illegal arrests, 4 aerial bombings, and a food blockade.

As commander of the 204th Brigade in Mindoro and Romblon, he was blamed for no lower than 100 killings.

With close to 500 violent incidents to his name, activists have come to call him “berdugo” (butcher). Palparan said he’s not affected by the derogatory label because it is “baseless.”

He suggested that his critics assess their own ranks, check out the “many enemies” they made in the course of their political work. “[Their enemies] have their own axe to grind. Perhaps they’re timing their deeds with my presence so I can be the one who would be blamed,” Palparan remarked.

Canlas is certain that the killings stepped up when Palparan arrived in the region. The indications: these were directed more against activists instead of rebels; the attacks happened at any day at any time, were carried out by a pair or a bigger group of areas where soldiers under Palparan had a strong presence.

Palparan said that none of the incidents attributed to him provides direct evidence of his role in the killings. Not one of the killers has been arrested.

Nonetheless, Palparan said he was using the tag to his advantage. “More people listen to me now because they’re curious if that tag is true or not.” While the militants have portrayed him as a sinner, Palparan said he’s no saint, either. “I’m just a soldier loyal to my country, to the AFP, and to the President.”

“He’s the right man for the right job,” said Colonel Herbert Yambing, Palparan’s chief of staff. “With this kind of warfare that we are now in, I think if we have another two generals of his kind, the insurgency war will already end.”

Below are excerpts from the interview:

On why he became a soldier

My father was a soldier. When I was in college, I didn’t like my course. The ROTC [a reserve officers’ training course] was a way of making my study a little bit comfortable.

On being called a butcher

It is a creation of my enemies, the enemies of the military. They want to create a picture of myself as a brutal criminal and a person who is…doing illegal things. Where I am assigned, people get better lives. We‘re improving the situation in areas that the [Armed Force of the Philippines] has liberated.

On the communist movement

We’ve got to hate the movement. We’ve got to have that fighting stance. The movement should be eradicated. It should be eliminated.

On his approach to ending the insurgency

We have an armed enemy that is not too big, but it is effective because it has an intelligence network which is providing the information against us. This is psychological warfare because this is a war for popular support.

On leftist activists and organizations as target of military operations

What a number of these legal organizations are doing is illegal. We have to act on the illegal activities of these groups. If these organizations basically act as conduits [of the NPA] then we will have to do it. I don’t know how. Up to now we are collecting information on members who are doing illegal activities.

On what constitute illegal acts

They kill people. They threaten people. They are collecting revolutionary taxation. They are training or recruiting [people] to be part of the NPA. Most of their leaders came from illegal organizations. Like Satur Ocampo, a former NPA, he did not surrender. He joined the legal movement. You have to push a case for that. They have not renounced their membership from the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The CPP is supposed to be legal.…Under that party they have the New People’s Army (NPA) and the National Democratic Front. The NPA is the one we are running after. – Rappler.com