There are two frames of their (the communists) struggle: armed and legal, Gonzales said. Those in the legal frame say they should not be included among those pursued by General Palparan because they are in the legal arena. Lets get into the moral plane: you are the ones advocating armed struggle, you are the ones strengthening armed struggle, you are the ones who give resources to strengthen armed struggle and you say you should not be included.
Thats what Satur Ocampo and the others say, Gonzales continued. What do you mean you should not be included? You are the ones recruiting for the NPA (New Peoples Army), you are the ones giving money to the NPA, you are the ones making the rebellion grow and you say you are innocent?
The General Palparan Gonzales was referring to is retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr., who has earned notoriety as butcher for the countless shocking cases of human rights violations in the areas under his command during the period, from Mindoro Oriental where he served as colonel then as brigadier general, to Eastern Visayas, where he commanded the 8th ID, and Central Luzon, 7th ID.
Street marchers
In a chance interview with Bulatlat also last August in Sulu Hotel in Quezon City, Palparan referred to legal activists, those who march in the streets as he described them, as supporters of the clandestine and communist-led NPA.
Supporters are also targets but not necessarily to kill them, Palparan said. We organize information drives in communities, convince them to deny support. If we cant convince them its up to them. They are keeping something, maybe dangerous, they have gone deep.
Yet in his stint as commander of the Armys 8th Infantry Division in Eastern Visayas last year, Palparan threatened to stop anti-government rallies in Samar island within six months. In a radio program, Express It at the Park, cited in a Bulatlat report, he told listeners, They (cause-oriented groups) should be removed completely from here at the fastest means available, in the shortest possible time They should be targeted first, the leaders, because they are the initiators. Referring to peasants who were reported missing, he said Pasensya na kayo sa paisa-isang kinukuha at ninunyutralisa natin sa mga baryo…yung masasamang tao na nawawala, mabuti naman na mawala sila. These are bad eggs. Gumagawa sila ng kagaguhan (Please excuse us if we have to take and neutralize those in the barrios one by one. It is good for the bad elements to disappear. These are the bad eggs. They promote chaos).
Outrage
The killings and disappearances have generated outrage even from local quarters previously silent on issues of national significance, as well as the international community. Such is the outrage spawned by these killings and disappearances for which the blame has been laid on as far as Malacaangs doorstep, inasmuch as these mainly targeted vocal critics of the Arroyo administration that the President had been forced to form probe bodies to look into these, and to issue a categorical statement condemning political killings.
