Photo by Carlo Gabuco/Rappler

BULACAN, Philippines (UPDATED) – Retired Army Major General Jovito Palparan was found guilty on Monday, September 17, of kidnapping and serious illegal detention in the 2006 disappearance of University of the Philippines (UP) students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan. Colonel Felipe Anotad and Sergeant Edgardo Osorio were also given a life-term by the Bulacan regional court in north Manila where Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, students of University of the Philippines, went missing 12 years ago. For years, Palparan, 68, was a celebrated figure in the Philippine in the Philippine military’s campaign against the communist New People’s Army. In 2015, a witness, Raymond Manalo, testified that he saw Palparan along with Cadapan and Empeño inside a military camp in Bulacan province where he, too, had been detained for being a suspected communist rebel. Another witness, Wilfredo Ramos Jr., also testified in court that he had seen the abduction of the two women by Sergeant Osorio and other armed men. "[Palparan's] conviction sends the message that perpetrators of hideous human rights violations will meet their match in the fortitude of the mothers, the strength of the mass movement, the courage of human rights defenders, and the value of good lawyering for the people," the NUPL said in a statement.
Former Philippine Army general and politician Jovito Palparan is convicted for the kidnapping and disappearance of students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño. He and two other associates are sentenced to life imprisonment.