Retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan failed to get the court to grant him temporary release.

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – A Bulacan court denied retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr.’s motion for reconsideration for his motion to bail from kidnapping and serious illegal detention cases filed against him in relation to the disappearance of two students of the University of the Philippines (UP) in 2006.

In a decision dated Jan. 22, Bulacan Regional Trial Branch 15 Judge Alexander Tamayo said Palparan’s motion for the court to reconsider its Dec. 14 ruling did not present anything new or compelling grounds and “merely lifted from the summary findings of the court in evaluating the weight of the evidence presented for purposed of bail.”

Tamayo said that the prosecution had presented strong evidence on the charges against him, and that it is now up to Palparan to refute them. He added that for purposes of bail, Palparan’s testimony alone cannot overturn the strong evidence presented by the prosecution.

On Nov. 5 last year, Palparan took the witness stand and said that they “cleared” villages that were “infested” with New People’s Army members as part of the government counterinsurgency program. He admitted that the clearing operations included physically disappearing the “infestation.”

The next trial date is set on Feb. 4.