BY VICTOR REYES
RETIRED Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, blamed by
militants for the spate of political killings, yesterday said
the findings of separate investigations conducted by a United
Nations rapporteur and the Melo Commission were full of Leftist
propaganda.
In a phone patch interview, the former
commander of the Central Luzon-based 7th Infantry Division said
the Melo Commission could have been infiltrated by the "enemy."
"False, the Melo Commission report is totally
false. That is what I can say…They did not dig deeper into what
happened. Their output therefore is, I think, haoshao (fake) or
it is a re-echo, mostly just a re-echo of the enemy’s
propaganda," said Palparan.
The report of the Melo Commission, which was
created by President Arroyo last year to look into the
extra-judicial killings, was made public by Malacañang Thursday.
Among others, the report said a small group
within the military establishment was behind the killings of
Leftist activists and that Palparan and perhaps his superior
officers may be held responsible.
"The report has no basis... They centered on
my statement in the media, in radio, TV and their questions to
me. That is the only proof they have, but most of my statements
were misinterpreted, taken out of context or reinvented," said.
Palparan ridiculed the conclusion of the
commission that he and other military commanders might be held
responsible and that the military might be involved in the
killings. "What kind of (conclusion) is that? Their report is
all tentative so they have not done their job, they have not
done their job actually," he said.
Palparan said the military was hoping the
commission would come out with "definite findings so that people
who are responsible must be held answerable and those who are
not involved and implicated will be cleared."
"That’s what we expected of the Melo
(Commission) but they did not do their job. They picked on me.
They re-echoed (the enemy’s propaganda). Almost the words of the
enemy are there so I suspect that there is an enemy inside (the
commission) who is writing for them," he said.
Palparan maintained the Melo Commission has
no basis to indict him. "That is their conclusion but that is
actually not definite. They said ‘may be.’ Bakla nga yung
kanilang conclusion," he said.
On the investigation conducted by UN special
rapporteur Philip Alston, Palparan said he was not blaming
Alston for his findings which he said were based on "shallow"
reports furnished by militant groups.
Palparan said while Alston went to get the
side of the military, "it appears that he already had a
preconceived conclusion because a lot of complaints had reached
him against me, against us so when they arrived here, they
already had a conclusion," he said.
ENEMY PROPAGANDA
Echoing Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes
Esperon Jr., Palparan said Alston’s group cannot come up with an
"in depth" conclusion on the extrajudicial killings because
their investigation took only 10 days.
"In 10 days, you cannot have an in depth or
very sound conclusion, analysis as a matter of fact. But
immediately after 10 days, they already have a conclusion so
that conclusion has no basis. It was not reached after in-depth
study and analysis of the situation," said Palparan.
Palparan said just like the Melo Commission,
the Alston findings lacked facts.
"Meaning that he is also reechoing mostly the
propaganda of the enemy although so far we have not seen
something that is derogatory in the report of Alston," he said.
Alton, before leaving the country Wednesday,
said the military was in a "state of almost total denial" and
that his team was convinced the military was behind the
killings.
It dismissed the military’s theory that the
killings were part of a purge.
PSY-WAR
Palparan also sought to clarify the order he
gave to his men to shoot rebels in houses of civilians and his
comment that "it will just be too bad if the civilians are
killed in the crossfire."
He said he issued the order before a group of
people suspected to be supportive of the CPP/NPA in Nueva Ecija.
"I suspected that my words would reach the NPA in nearby
hinterlands so this was psychological warfare."
Palparan said he was merely scaring the
people not to support the communists.
"We have to scare the people against the evil
that they were doing…You have to scare them before they can
commit something bad," he said.
The Armed Forces reiterated its call on
militant organizations to file charges against Palparan and even
Esperon.
"Up to this time, we have not seen a case being filed. How
can you establish culpability if we are not seeing a case being
filed," said Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, chief of the AFP public
information office.
