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Monday, July 02, 2007
Palparan, security chief cleared on missing rebel
MANILA -- The Court of Appeals (CA) has exonerated National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and military officials including Major General Jovito Palparan from charges linking them to the disappearance of a communist leader in Bulacan last year.
Associate Justice Magdangal de Leon of the CA 14th Division said the petition for habeas corpus filed by the family of the missing Leopoldo Maglalang Ancheta, a member of the National Democratic Front (NDF) peace panel, failed to substantially prove that respondents have him in their custody.
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"There is not even a scintilla of evidence which could link respondents to the mysterious disappearance of Ancheta. Thus, their returns of the writ, declaring that Ancheta is not in their custody, must be taken at face value," the CA said in a ruling dated June 19.
Agreeing to the ruling were Associate Justices Rebecca Guia-Salvador and Ricardo Rosario.
The appellate court said the testimony of complainant Carmen Ancheta, wife of the missing NDF official, consists merely of narrations of events prior to the disappearance of her husband on June 24, 2006 and the actions she had taken after receiving information that he was abducted.
The court said petitioner's testimony was nothing more than hearsay, noting that information about her husband's disappearance was relayed to her by unnamed tricycle drivers who were not presented in court.
"It is always heartrending to see agony and anguish in the eyes of a person whose loved one has disappeared without a trace. And who can remain unaffected, having to listen to the stifled sobs of a soul torn to pieces by loss and desperation? We do understand the plight, and commiserate with her. Sadly, for now that is all this Court can do," the decision reads.
The CA, however, said Ancheta's family could file the case again once they have gathered sufficient evidence linking the respondents to his disappearance.
Based on the testimony of Ancheta's wife, she recounted that while they were at their house in Barangay Obrero in Tondo, Manila, her husband told her that he was already marked and that the military was to be blamed if he were ever to be abducted.
She said Ancheta left their house on June 22, 2006 at 5:30 a.m. to see some relatives in Mexico, Pampanga.
Ancheta also instructed her not to call his phone and that he would just send her text messages on when and where they would meet upon his return.
On June 24, 2006 at 5:10 p.m., petitioner received a text message from her husband asking her to meet him at the South Supermarket in Tuktukan, Guiguinto, Bulacan at 6:30 in the evening.
Petitioner said she became worried when her husband did not show up at their meeting place. She then called a certain Celina Palma, wife of Ancheta's employer, and asked if they knew his whereabouts.
Palma told her that they dropped Ancheta in front of the Tuktukan Elementary School in Guiguinto few hours ago. Carmen said she waited for several hours more before going home.
The next day, Carmen sought the assistance of human rights group Karapatan based in Bulacan in looking for her husband. They went back to the South Supermarket in Guiguinto, Bulacan on June 30 and inquired from several tricycle drivers there if they had seen Ancheta in the area.
The tricycle drivers narrated seeing Ancheta being dragged and forced by three armed men in civilian clothes into a silver Toyota Revo. The vehicle's license plate was covered with plastic.
Petitioner immediately reported her husband's alleged abduction to the authorities while Karapatan conducted further investigation on Ancheta's disappearance.
Karapatan later declared that Ancheta's abductors could be members of the military, prompting Carmen to file a petition for habeas corpus, wherein she named as respondents Gonzales, Palparan--the so-called "butcher" of communist rebels, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and other military officials. (ECV/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga. (July 2, 2007 issue)
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