Palparan Does Not Deserve a Seat in Congress -- Church Group

We of the Promotion of Church People's Response (PCPR) join the victims' families and human rights groups in condemning retired Major General Jovito Palparan's plan to secure a seat in Congress with his 'advocacy on national security,' which means all-out campaign against activist groups whose members became victims of political repression as they are perceived 'enemies of the state.'

The Commission on Elections (Comelec), in so far as it approved increasing military presence in urban and rural areas in the context of the May 2007 elections, will be a party to Palparan's continuing immunity fro prosecution for grave human rights abuses if it readily approves of Palparan's candidacy through his 'yet to be named party-list group.'

Palparan does not deserve a seat in Congress, not especially through the party-list system which was originally intended to serve the interests of the poor and marginalized sectors. He should be spending his retirement years in jail for the numerous cases of killings and abduction of activists in Southern Tagalog, Eastern Visayas and Central Luzon under his command.

We are dismayed and outraged at the recommendation of CHR Commissioner Eligio Mallari to drop the charges that Palparan and his men are directly accountable for the political killings in their areas of operations. We ask the other CHR Commissioners to junk Mallari's report and recommendations that effectively absolve Palparan.

JUSTICE FOR ALL VICTIMS OF EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS AND ENFORCED