Palparan: The man and the myth

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Palparan: The man and the myth

Mark Fredesjed R. Cristino

Patricia Evangelista looks back at the man and the myth and asks: is this the end of the legend of Palparan?

MANILA, Philippines – Retired Major General Jovito Palparan files an urgent motion to remain at the National Bureau of Investigation or NBI, where he is currently detained, citing security concerns.

Palparan cites military intelligence reports that says an NPA liquidation squad is out to kill him.
The United Nations Human Rights Office for Southeast Asia on Thursday stressed the importance of the Palparan case not only for the Philippines but for the region.

It says “Ensuring justice… will set an important precedent for the Philippines and South East Asia region, where impunity remains.”

Rappler’s Patricia Evangelista followed the story of the 2 missing University of the Philippines students and the military general who allegedly ordered their abduction.
She looks back at the man and the myth and asks: is this the end of the legend of Palparan?

He inspired both fear and awe for more than a decade. 
Called butcher by some, hero by others, Jovito Palparan unified both sides. 
For the right, he was an incorruptible ideologue, whose iron fist crushed the plague of the world’s longest-running communist insurgency.

JOVITO PALPARAN, FORMER MAJOR GENERAL: Well hopefully ‘yung bansa natin matahimik, kung wala nang insurgency, kung wala nang CPP-NPA.

To the left he was a power-hungry madman, whose very brutality created a common enemy for moderates and progressives. 
Through it all, Jovito Palparan Jr. maintained an air of fearless competence, uncompromising and all but untouchable…
in spite of the international outcry against the slaughter of dozens of left-wing activists. 
He promised to face the courts and let the law decide.

JOVITO PALPARAN, FORMER MAJOR GENERAL: We are confident that we are not guilty, but as to the decision of the panel, we do not want to preempt their decision.

And yet when the courts decided, Palparan disappeared. 
For almost three years he evaded arrest, adding to his legend, until his surprise capture in the slums of Sta Mesa.

JOVITO PALPARAN, FORMER MAJOR GENERAL: Kapag nagtago ka, nandoon ang threat sa’yo anytime din, pero in control ka sa sarili mo, you can evade. Pero nakakatakot kasi di ka na makagalaw, palaging may apprehension. You cannot do things that you used to do.

Palparan by his own admission, ran away because he was afraid of the same enemy he claimed to have crushed.

JOVITO PALPARAN, FORMER MAJOR GENERAL: In public may pronouncement sila na pag-retire ko pa lang eh, naka-banner na sa Inquirer by NPA, Palparan ‘dead man walking.’ So that’s a real threat. Totoo po ‘yun. ‘Yun lang po nag-hold back sa akin.

This is not the Palparan of legend, not the looming giant in the national imagination.
This is a man who failed, because he was afraid.
Patricia Evangelista, Rappler, Manila.

– Rappler.com

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