AT THE height of the public outrage over the reported impending release of former Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez from jail, blogger Mocha Uson publicly appealed for the release of Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, another convict, and even posted a video clip of her interview with him inside the National Bilibid Prison (NBP). Under normal circumstances, we would have called off attention from Uson’s latest antics, she having no credibility as a purveyor of disinformation and unreason through “fake news” in social media.

But these are not normal circumstances.

An elected Philippine senator opined that Sanchez, who was convicted of horrendous crimes in 1995, deserved a “second chance”—something that poor and ordinary victims of the Oplan Tokhang that he once helmed never had. Meanwhile, the government has imposed a number of draconian measures while intensifying efforts in all fronts to vilify and persecute progressive groups and the political opposition.

It can be remembered that Palparan was detained in his own playground at the Fort Bonifacio, instead of the city jail, due to imagined threats on his life. There are reports that despite having been transferred to the NBP last year after his conviction, he has not been committed to a regular cell with other inmates. Likewise, Uson’s on-camera interview with Palparan, who is undergoing another trial for another crime, was not authorized by the court in violation of the strict jail rules on media access to persons deprived of liberty.