By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
General Esperon is lying through his teeth in claiming that I wrote a book entitled “The Philippine Revolutionary Movement” which purportedly supports his contention that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) were behind the killings of 1,200 persons.
By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
General Esperon is lying through his teeth in claiming that I wrote a book entitled “The Philippine Revolutionary Movement” which purportedly supports his contention that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) were behind the killings of 1,200 persons.
I wrote no such book.
Like Hitler’s propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels, General Esperon fabricates lie after lie to cover up the responsibility of the Arroyo regime, himself and General Palparan included, for the extrajudicial killings of more than 750 unarmed civilians, the wounding and frustrated killings of more than 200 others, and the enforced disappearances of more than 180 persons.
General Esperon is also lying when he claims that the accusations against General Palparan are only in the media. He ignores the habeas corpus petition before the Court of Appeals which repeatedly summoned Palparan to answer for the disappearance of the two UP students, Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, and their companion, Manuel Merino. He also passes over the habeas corpus petitions for Philip Limjoco and Leopoldo Ancheta before various courts.
He disregards the written opposition filed against Palparan by human rights advocate Eden Marcellana before the Commission on Appointments of the Philippine Congress before she was abducted and murdered in April 2003. In fact, she was ready to testify before the Commission on Appointments to oppose Palparan’s promotion to brigadier general. Aprilyn Perido, 26, and her family had filed a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) against General Palparan. She and Eloisa Tukay were abducted in Cabanatuan City on September 4, 2006.
The Melo Commission is turning out to be a platform for General Esperon and his kind to propagate the lies of the Arroyo regime and cover up the accountability of the likes of General Palparan for the extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and frustrated killings. By all indications, the Arroyo regime is hell-bent on using the Melo Commission to clear the military of criminal responsibility and to put the blame on the revolutionary forces.
Generals Esperon and Palparan and their kind should study the history of those who perpetrated crimes against humanity and war crimes. On December 7, 1941, Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel signed Hitler’s Night and Fog Decree (Nacht und Nebel Erlass). It was an order to cause the enforced disappearance of those suspected of engaging in the resistance against Hitler’s occupation of France, Belgium and Holland. To destroy the growing resistance, Hitler wanted to sow fear by making people disappear into the night and fog. More than 7,000 became victims of this decree.
After the defeat of Nazism, 24 of Hitler’s associates were tried at Nuremberg. Field Marshall Keitel was convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes. He was sentenced to death.
