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NEWS RELEASE
December 23, 2011

Reference: Cristina Palabay, End Impunity Convenor (09175003879)

RIGHTS ALLIANCE CALL ON NETIZENS TO SUPPORT CALL FOR JUSTICE, ASKS TO POST "WANTED: PALPARAN" POSTERS ON THEIR PROFILES

The End Impunity Alliance, a network of victims of human rights violations, human rights defenders and civil libertarians, today called on all netizens, especially Facebook users, to help the mothers of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno to attain justice for their missing daughters by participating in the “People’s Manhunt” for Ret. Major General Jovito Palparan and his co-accused M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario through posting on their profiles the “Wanted: Palparan” poster released by Karapatan, Desaparecidos and Hustisya. (poster attached)

“The internet is venue for supporting many causes including this very important quest for justice of the mothers of the two disappeared UP students. All netizens are enjoined to post this poster on their profiles to make known to internet users the face and name of this notorious human rights violator and seek information on his whereabouts to cause his immediate arrest,” said Cristina Palabay, convenor of End Impunity Alliance.

The call for “People’s Manhunt” was issued by the mothers last December 21, after warrants of arrest were issued by Branch 14 of the Malolos City Regional Trial Court in Bulacan. The warrants came after the Department of Justice found probable cause on the charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention filed by Erlinda Cadapan and Concepcion Empeno, mothers of the 2 UP students. The criminal case was filed by the mothers in May 2011.

On December 19, Palparan was not allowed to take the flight from Clark International Airport to Singapore. The Bureau of Immigration likewise released a hold departure order for Palparan and his cohorts. Two of Palparan’s co-accused, Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado and Staff Sergeant Edgardo Osorio have surrendered to authorities, while Palparan and Hilario remains at large.

In using the poster in their profiles, netizens are also requested to post this short note: “Support the call of Sherlyn and Karen's mothers for a PEOPLE'S MANHUNT for Palparan! JAIL PALPARAN! JUSTICE FOR ALL VICTIMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS! Use this profile picture to spread the word about the need to arrest one of the most notorious human rights violators.”

“Three days after the warrants of arrest against Palparan et al, he has evaded accountability by trying to leave the country and by being a fugitive. We call on the public to help the victims’ mothers by giving information which is not only an exercise of vigilance and compassion, but an act, however small it may be, in making perpetrators pay for their high crimes against the victims and the Filipino people. Ending impunity in the country, when state institutions have been remiss in pursuing justice and accountability, rests on the people’s advocacy and struggle for genuine democracy and freedom,” Palabay further said.

Statement from the UP Student Regent:

On the search for Palparan and for justice
28 December 2011

Reference: Krissy Conti, 09165435216


The UP student community joins Philippine human rights defenders in the search for Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan and his co-accused in the crime of kidnapping with serious illegal detention of our fellow students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan.

Palparan et al’s arrest and detention in ordinary jails would give us a little peace of mind as we continue to conduct field work, immerse in communities, and serve the people where we can find them – the same way Karen and Sherlyn did. We have no bounty to offer, but to those who can bring in the men who terrorized the countryside have our deepest gratitude.

As we witness, in practice, the rule of law, we can only but remember the plight of other UP students and alumni. James Balao, missing since 2008, empowered indigenous peoples to defend their homelands from the greedy. Maricon Montajes and Ericson Acosta, detained on trumped up charges, are also two of our own who sought to change our society from the bottom up.

The way now to give dignity to their pain and suffering is to stand behind their mothers, their families, friends, and most poignantly, to declare ourselves one family, from the one University that we all call home.

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We are inviting members of our "UP family" to join the prosecution oppose Palparan's motion for a new preliminary investigation, recall the warrant of arrest and hold departure order and suspend proceedings. Contact Krissy Conti for the trip to Malolos, Bulacan RTC branch 14 on Monday, 2 January 2011, 10am.

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Mothers of missing UP students call for people's manhunt for Palparan
Submitted on Wed, 12/21/2011 - 14:04 Desaparecidos National Press release
 

We welcome the issuance of warrants of arrest for Ret. Major General Jovito Palparan, Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado, Master Sergeant Rizal Hilario, and Staff Sergeant Edgardo Osorio for charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention of our daughters, Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno.

The Department of Justice resolution finding probable cause against them on these charges is a product of our arduous and persevering struggle for justice and to end impunity in the country. For us, it also signifies the start of a long and rigorous trial to hold Palparan and other human rights violators accountable.

Such impunity is wrought by the brazen commission of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other forms of human rights violations under the Macapagal-Arroyo regime. Such violations continue with impunity to this date under the Aquino administration, which has been remiss in pursuing justice for the victims and has sustained the same kind of counter-insurgency measure which terrorizes and wantonly violates human rights.

We emphasize that this significant victory is to the credit of the victims of human rights violations and their kin, the survivor-witnesses, human rights defenders, the people’s movement and the freedom-loving Filipino people – we who have kept and held the torch of justice flaming even during the darkest hours.

We call on our kababayans to help us continue this journey to achieve justice. We call on the public, with the warrants of arrest issued against Palparan et al, to join us in this public manhunt to ensure that he and his cohorts be immediately arrested, put to jail and prosecuted for the grave human rights violations they committed. We urge you to remain one with us in demanding that Karen, Sherlyn and all victims of enforced disappearances be surfaced.

We shall remain steadfast in our struggle for justice and realization of human rights in the country, as we make all human rights violators, including former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and top civil, military and police officials accountable for their high crimes against the people.###

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Musings over Palparan
by Karlos Manlupig

One would visualize a butcher as a person covered with blood after meticulously chopping and carving an animal in a slaughterhouse. For a man to be labeled a butcher, that person must have done something really brutal. “Berdugo” in the native language, “butcher” is by and large used to tag someone who has the reputation to have a hand in a series of massacres and other fascist acts.

A retired General and now a party-list Representative, Jovito Palparan is notorious as the epitome of fascism in the country. Execrated by the people, Palparan is now again on the loose to sow fear, deception and murders in Davao.

The Making of a Murderous Psychopath

Born in Cagayan de Oro City, Palparan studied in the University of the East and expeditiously rose to the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. He was called to active duty in the AFP in 1973 and served as a lieutenant in Basilan for eight years. Palparan was reportedly wounded during an encounter with armed guerillas belonging to the Moro National Liberation Front.

After his stint in Basilan, he was promoted to become the commander of the 24th Infantry Battallion bringing with him his McCarthyist antics of terrorism spilling blood all over the National Capital Region as early as 1987. In his delusion to crush the legal progressive and underground movement, Palparan’s barbaric exploits caused the death of countless lives.

Palparan then emerged in the center stage as one of the prized weapons of mass deception and destruction of the government against the people’s movement for national liberation and democracy. His expertise includes summary executions, abductions, tortures, harassments, indiscriminate bombing and strafing, enforced disappearances and brainwashing through black propaganda.

Reports recorded by human rights group Karapatan identified 39 cases of extra-judicial killings, 11 failed killings and 5 enforced disappearances in his stint in the Southern Tagalog Region. Palparan was transferred as commander of the 8th Infantry Division in Samar and there he raised the record of 25 extra-judicial killings, 9 failed killings, and 12 enforced disappearances. Some 7,250 individuals, 5,223 families at 141 communities fell victim to intensified militarization. And as the commanding general of the 7th Infantry Division assigned in Central Luzon, he collected 77 bodybags of victims of extra-judicial killings, 15 attempted murders and 42 enforced disappearances.

One of the highlighted cases of Palparan’s malfeasance is the abduction of University of the Philippines student leaders Karen Empeño and Sheryl Cadapan and peasant Manuel Merino in Bulacan. The abduction created uproar from the UP community, human rights organizations, civil society and even from groups abroad. The statement of the Manolo brothers who were also abducted by the military and managed to escape reinforced the evidences.

According to sworn statement of Raymond Manolo, they were detained with Karen, Sheryl and Manuel in a military camp in Bulacan. Raymond was able to have a discussion with them and witnessed how Sheryl attempted to escape. The military agents went berserk when they found out about Sheryl’s plan. “They delivered heavy punches to the whole of Sheryl and Karenís bodies, their mouths bled, they were hanged upside down with only one foot tied while naked. Then the military poured water in their nostrils,” Manolo affirmed in his sworn statement.

The numbers are enough to attest that Palparan is indeed a murderous psychopath. His atrocities caused an international alarm stirring the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the United Nations to conduct an investigation. The Phillip Alston Report and HRW concluded that Jovito Palparan is liable for the countless cases of human rights violations in the Philippines. The Melo Commission created in 2006 also concluded that “there is certainly evidence pointing the finger of suspicion at some elements and personalities in the armed forces, in particular General Palparan, as responsible for an undetermined number of killings, by allowing, tolerating, and even encouraging the killings.”

Palparan takes pride over his so-called exploits: “The killings are being attributed to me. But I did not kill them. I just inspire the triggermen.”

By praising Palparan, Arroyo is sending an unambiguous message. That her administration rewards, not penalizes, those who participate and promote the murders of those regarded as oppositions, leftists and communists.

Tito Palpy

Student activists, as a joke, refer to Palparan as Tito Palpy and usually use it to scare some kasamas when they go home late, “Hala ka, naa baya si Tito Palpy diha sa gawas sa gate. Ginahulat ka.”

Just a few months away from the first automated election in our country, the Davao region is under threat by the presence of the “Butcher” and his brainwashing buddy Pastor “Jun” Alcover. Their mission- to demonize the MAKABAYAN senatoriables Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza and party-lists Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Gabriela, Kabataan, ACT and Katribu and disenfranchise the legitimate struggle of the Filipino people.

The pronouncement of Palparan and Prospero Nograles to team-up against the Left and Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is preposterous. Palparan said in a press conference in Davao City that Mayor Duterte has “ties” with the communists. “Intelligence officers of the military told me to be wary of Mayor Duterte”, Palparan told the local media. The political interest of Nograles reinforced by Palparan’s militarist and terrorist approach will only spell out chaos in Davao City.

The deployment and installation of the 69th Infantry Battalion of the AFP last August 27, 2009 in Davao is clearly part of the maneuvering of the government to further terrorize Mindanao. Referred to by some as the “Palparan Battalion”, the 69th IB originally came from Central Luzon under the 7th ID, the division-cum-killing machine led by Palparan before his so-called retirement in September 2006.

The “Palparan Battalion” is a band of gun-for-hires involved in the brutal massacre in Hacienda Luisita and the abduction of Jonas Burgos.

In the last futile attempts of the US-backed Arroyo administration to crush the people’s liberation movement, it is crystal clear that their turgid Oplan Bantay Laya 2 (OBL 2) is bound to fail. Suffering tremendous blows from the people movement and offensives launched by the New People’s Army particularly in Southern Mindanao, the government is frantic in sending the best of the beasts to save their sinking ship.

Dead Man Walking

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, a line borrowed from the book A Tale of Two Cities perfectly describes the political scenario in the Philippines.

This is the worst of times because the people are under attack. The election is only a few months away and Arroyo and her deadly minions, Palparan and Nograles, are on a killing spree. Democracy, justice and peace are fiction. If student leaders Karen and Sheryl were easily dragged, tortured and raped by state agents, then no place is safe for the youth anymore.

This is the best of times because the condition is very ripe for a huge leap in the progress of the people’s struggle. This times calls for the people to unite and resist against the evils that desire to destroy our dream for a better future. We want change. The times calls for the youth to prove that we want change, genuine change, and that we really are, as Rizal declared, as the hope of the nation.

The day of reckoning is about to come. Palparan is a dead man walking.No title, not General, Congressman, not even Senator, will make Jovito Palparan an honorable man.

Soon, Palparan’s atrocities will catch up with him and the Butcher will suffer the bitter end he deserves. Like stories written in books, some characters will live happily ever after and some will face the consequence of their evil deeds.

The “Berdugo” will surely face the wrath of the people and will forever be in the dark pages of our history. And the people, through the advancement of the national democratic struggle, will harvest the hard-won fruits of their labor- a society without injustice and exploitation.

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Gov't, NPA hunt for Palparan

By Tonette Orejas
Unquirer Central Luzon

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines–A fugitive from the law for six days now, retired Major General Jovito Palparan finds himself besieged on many fronts.

The National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police are after Palparan to make him and three soldiers stand trial for the kidnapping and subsequent disappearance of two University of the Philippines students in Hagonoy, Bulacan, in 2006.
 

Indigenous peoples remember Palparan atrocities
 

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Indigenous peoples in the Cordillera are pushing for the arrest and detention of General Jovito Palparan believed to be behind the torture and death of many highland leaders.

Beverly Longid of the KATRIBU party-list said, “The PNP (Philippine National Police) manhunt should continue despite his surrender feelers and the surrender of his cohorts. The government should not also give him any special treatment and privilege.”

Longid said Palparan was assigned to the Cordilleras from 1991 to 1994 and has been pointed out as the mastermind in the torture and killing of Marcelo Fakilang.

Wanted Palparan' posters out

MANILA, Philippines -- Militant groups Karapatan and Desaparecidos spearheaded the posting of "Wanted Palparan" posters in Quezon City today in a bid to arrest elusive Army general Jovito Palparan Jr.

In a statement, Karapatan secretary-general Jigs Clamor urged to government to search the fugitive retired military official inside military camps in the country.
“We won’t be surprised if Palparan’s co-implementers of Oplan Bantay Laya are coddling him as they are like-minded," he added.
 

P500K reward for info on Palparan

by Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) are offering a reward money of half a million pesos for anyone who will be able to provide information that will lead to the arrest of retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan.
 

This was bared by Justice Sec. Leila De Lima in a text message to ABS-CBN News.
 

Palparan remains at large in spite of the issuance of a warrant for his arrest by a Bulacan trial court for the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of University of the Philippines (UP) student activists Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno in June 2006.

Editorial : People’s manhunt
Philippine Daily Inquirer
1:52 am | Thursday, December 29th, 2011

It took all of five and a half years to get the wheels of justice turning against Jovito Palparan, and now they seem to have ground to a halt—but we hope, very briefly.

The retired Army major general is one of the principal accused in the disappearance of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño, both students of the University of the Philippines, who were abducted in Bulacan in June 2006 allegedly by soldiers belonging to the 7th Infantry Division then headed by Palparan. The student activists were suspected of being members of the communist New People’s Army

NEWS RELEASE
December 28, 2011

Reference: Cristina Palabay, End Impunity Convenor (09175003879)

RIGHTS ALLIANCE ON THE ARMY CUSTODY OF PALPARAN’S 2 CO-ACCUSED AND PALPARAN’S MOTION TO RECALL ARREST WARRANT

The End Impunity Alliance, a network of victims of rights violations, human rights defenders and civil libertarians, today criticized the transfer of custody of the two co-accused perpetrators in the kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges against Ret. Major General Jovito Palparan from the Bulacan Provincial Jail to Fort Bonifacio.

Cristina Palabay, convenor of the alliance, said this move is highly irregular as both should remain in an ordinary civilian detention facility, not in the comfortable confines of their military camps. She said this was done without the knowledge of the complainants, the mothers of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno, and their counsels.

“We decry this form of special treatment, as if the undue delay of the arrests of Palparan and Hilario is not disturbing enough. We demand that they be brought to a civilian detention facility and that Palparan and Hilario be immediately arrested and jailed in a similar institution,” she commented.

According to reports, Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado and S/Sgt Edgardo Osorio are currently in the custody of the Philippine Army, while Palparan and M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario remain at large, after warrants of arrest were issued against them.

Palabay also branded Palparan’s motion in court to recall the arrest warrant and hold-departure order against him “a cheap shot of a guilty criminal who is known to notoriously distort facts to evade accountability and prosecution.”

“The facts as presented by the witnesses, who are also victims-survivors, in the Cadapan-Empeno case are as clear as day. This case is just one of the numerous cases of rights violations perpetuated by Palparan and his ilk, with counter-insurgency program Oplan Bantay Laya as their blueprint and inspired by the accolades and promotion given by former Pres. Gloria Arroyo during her rule,” she added.

Reports recorded by human rights group Karapatan cited 39 cases of extra-judicial killings, 11 attempted killings and 5 enforced disappearances in his stint in the Southern Tagalog Region. Palparan was transferred as commander of the 8th Infantry Division in Samar where he raised the record of 25 extra-judicial killings, 9 attempted killings, and 12 enforced disappearances. Some 7,250 individuals, 5,223 families in 141 communities fell victims to intensified militarization. As commanding general of the 7th Infantry Division assigned in Central Luzon, Karapatan has documented 77 victims of extra-judicial killings, 15 attempted killings and 42 enforced disappearances.

“His record speaks for him, his statements betray his guilt, and his motives are laid bare to the public including the international community,” Palabay concluded

Press Statement
December 28, 2011


2 suspects in missing students case back ‘at home’
Private prosecutors disturbed, agitated over transfer of custody of 2 accused to the army

The panel of private prosecutors from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) handling the case of the two missing UP students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan on the reported transfer to the custody of the Philippine Army of the two co-accused of Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan:

“We are disturbed and agitated to have just learned from news reports that two of the accused in the case of the 2 missing UP students, Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado and S/Sgt. Edgardo Osorio, were transferred over the weekend to Fort Bonifacio and taken into custody by the army.

This is unacceptable. It was done without us being notified at all. We were totally clueless about this. They pulled a fast one again. This will definitely not sit well with a lot of people. It will further enrage the victims, their families, human rights defenders and the public if the same arrangement happens to Palparan should he be arrested, if at all.

The transfer of their custody to the army does not inspire confidence in our justice system. It practically means they will be ‘at home’ in the good company and graces of their own who will coddle and cuddle them. It dilutes the significant gain of making the perpetrators of human rights violations accountable and to be treated without any special accommodation. All of the accused in the disappearance of Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan must be jailed in an ordinary civilian penal facility.”

Reference: Atty. Edre U. Olalia, NUPL Secretary General (09175113373)

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Press Statement
December 27, 2011


Private prosecutors in case of 2 missing UP students welcome bounty for immediate arrest of Palparan

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) welcomes the P500,000 bounty put up by authorities for any information leading to the arrest of Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan. If it will be an additional incentive to bring in a fugitive running scared and in denial that the time of reckoning has come and who must be held accountable for other crimes against humanity and international humanitarian law pending or about to be filed in the courts, then so be it. Any legitimate effort to further inform the public to turn him in is fine.

At the end of the day, with all its powers, machinery and resources, it is incumbent on the government to arrest forthwith and bring before the bar of justice the highest military officer to be ever indicted for human rights violations in the country. He must be reunited with his avid fan, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in an ordinary jailhouse sooner than later.

Reference: Atty. Edre U. Olalia, NUPL Secretary General (09175113373)
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National Secretariat
National Union of Peoples' Lawyers(NUPL)
3F Erythrina Bldg., Maaralin corner Matatag Sts. Central District,Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.No.920-6660,Telefax No. 927- 2812
Email addresses:nupl2007@gmail.com and nuplphilippines@yahoo.com
"Visit the NUPL at http://www.nupl.net/

Passion For Reason
Palparan and the ‘desaparecidos’: ‘Nunca Más’
By: Raul C. Pangalangan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10:46 pm | Thursday, December 29th, 2011
 

Retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan wants to have his cake and eat it too. If he truly wishes to avoid “trial by publicity,” he should surrender to the courts and there face the music. Otherwise, he would have evaded trial altogether, before both the courts of justice and before the court of public opinion. In fact, it is most telling that he stands charged only now for a 2006 incident, and merely with kidnapping and serious illegal detention for what are essentially “enforced disappearances.”

Lest people forget, “desaparecidos” entered the jargon of human rights only in the 1970s. While dissidents may have “disappeared” earlier in history, it was only in the 1970s that the phenomenon emerged in Latin America as part of the strategy of repression by dictators, almost at the same time that it did in the Philippines when we were under martial law. The Latinos called it desaparecidos, while we called it “salvaging.” (I recall a foreign human rights intern who later published an essay on this strange term, “salvaging,” that he encountered during his summer in the Philippines.)

The phenomenon changed linguistic practices as well. Hitherto, “to disappear” had been an intransitive verb, but today it can be used transitively as well. Whereas before we would say that Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño have disappeared, today the more accurate phraseology, one that captures the essence of disappearances, would say that Sherlyn and Karen “were disappeared.” The perpetrators have disappeared them, rather than made them disappear.

Disappearances exploit the law itself to short-circuit our justice system and frustrate the law’s remedies and safeguards. The usual remedy is the writ of habeas corpus (Latin for “You have the body”), by which a court commands government to produce the prisoner so that the court may rule on the legality of his arrest and custody. With disappearances, the government’s security forces can merely shrug off the habeas corpus petition by simply denying that the person was ever in their custody. The Court of Appeals, when it initially threw out the habeas corpus petition explained: “[T]he courts have limited powers, means and resources to conduct an investigation.”

This brings us to the second lesson. That it took more than five years for the criminal case to be filed reminds us why we must choose government leaders who have the political will to run after the evil men who in the first place devised and eventually carried out the desaparecido strategy of neutralizing dissidents. We cannot rely solely upon the courts to run after criminals. We need the support of the Executive Branch, with its investigative and intelligence network, to ferret them out.

Thus the initial treatment of habeas corpus petition filed by the families of the two University of the Philippines activists, Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño. At 2 a.m. on June 26, 2006, they were seen being herded “tied and blindfolded” by “armed men wearing bonnets” and boarded on a jeep. The Court of Appeals initially threw out the case, saying that “habeas corpus is not the appropriate remedy” since there was “no strong evidence that the missing persons are in the custody of the respondents.” When the respondent military officers reported that neither Sherlyn nor Karen was in their custody, they had thus made a proper return upon the writ.
 

The Court of Appeals reversed that finding only after the victims’ families moved to reconsider and likewise petitioned for a writ of amparo, a new remedy created by then Chief Justice Reynato Puno in 2007 to confront precisely this problem of deniability in desaparecido cases. The puzzle was solved by the eyewitness testimony of Raymond Manalo who, together with his brother Reynaldo, was kidnapped by the military. They both managed to escape and lived to tell their tale.
 

The Supreme Court would summarize his testimony: “The next day, Raymond’s chains were removed and he was ordered to clean outside the barracks. … He was also ordered to clean inside the barracks. In one of the rooms therein, he met Sherlyn Cadapan from Laguna. She told him that she was a student of the University of the Philippines and was abducted in Hagonoy, Bulacan. She confided that she had been subjected to severe torture and raped. She was crying and longing to go home and be with her parents. During the day, her chains were removed and she was made to do the laundry.”

“After a week, Reynaldo was also brought to Camp Tecson. Two days from his arrival, two other captives, Karen Empeño and Manuel Merino, arrived. Karen and Manuel were put in the room with ‘Allan’ whose name they later came to know as Donald Caigas, called ‘master’ or ‘commander’ by his men in the 24th Infantry Battalion. Raymond and Reynaldo were put in the adjoining room. At times, Raymond and Reynaldo were threatened, and Reynaldo was beaten up. In the daytime, their chains were removed, but were put back on at night. They were threatened that if they escaped, their families would all be killed.”

The UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Killings called Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s response to this problem “a passivity bordering on abdication of responsibility.” The recent transfer of Palparan’s co-accused from civilian to military custody is worrisome because it shows a persistent tendency to see this case as if it were business as usual, amid a fear that any undue attention will amount to unequal treatment. On the contrary, the case calls for our continued vigilance. After the restoration of democracy in Argentina, they formed a national commission on the desaparecidos whose widely regarded report was entitled “Nunca Más” (Never Again). The typical Pinoy doesn’t speak Spanish, but one day we should be able to join our Latin compañeros in proclaiming: Nunca Más.