A MILITANT youth group urged Dabawenyos to join in the public manhunt of Retired General Jovito Palparan who is reported to have sought refuge in Southern Mindanao.
"Palparan should be jailed for his crimes against the people, especially the youth and students that he has victimized through harassment, intimidation, and even enforced disappearance as in the case of Sherlyn and Karen," said Cherry Orendain, spokesperson of Anakbayan Southern Mindanao Region.
Palparan has been charged with kidnapping and illegal detention for the disappearance of University of the Philippines student activists Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan in Hagonoy, Bulacan last 2006.
Lieutenant Colonel Felipe Anotado, Master Sergeant Rizal Hilario, and Staff Sergeant Edgardo Osorio were also charged with the same cases.
"The issuance of warrant of arrest has been a painstaking struggle for the families of Empeño and Cadapan and now that they have it, Palparan is nowhere to be found. We call on the Aquino administration to find and jail the fugitive Jovito Palparan," she said.
Orendain said the group won't be surprised if Palparan's co-implementers of Oplan Bantay Laya are "coddling" him.
"The AFP is loud in admiring Palparan's record of 'neutralizing' the so-called enemies of the state during Arroyo's administration," she said.
Judge Teodora Gonzales of Malolos Regional Trial Court issued the arrest warrants against Palparan and three other co-accused on December 21, 2011.