In particular, Palparan was honored for his "eminently meritorious and valuable service rendered as Commander of the 8th Infantry Division," a unit based in Samar where he was assigned from February to September last year. He is now commanding officer of the 7th Infantry Division, which is based in Central Luzon.
Eastern Visayas, where Samar is located, had seen some of the most brutal atrocities against human rights in the past year.
Based on data from the human rights group Karapatan, 11 activists were killed under Palparan's watch in Samar while assasination attempts were made on four others. Among those felled by extrajudicial executioners' bullets under the watch of Palparan were lawyer Felidito Dacut and Rev. Edison Lapus.
Meanwhile, thousands of people were forced to flee their homes because of the 8th Infantry Division's "special operations."
Palparan is now on his second assignment to Central Luzon: he was first assigned there in the 1980s. After his first assignment to the said region, he headed Army units in the Cordillera and Southern Tagalog. In every region where he was assigned, Palparan left trails of gruesome human rights violations.
The pictures of the mutilated corpses of community leaders Expedito and Manuela Albarillo, human rights worker Eden Marcellana, and peasant leader Eddie Gumanoy – all killed under Palparan's command in Mindoro – are impossible to forget and should not be forgotten.
By allowing the conferment of the Distinguished Service Star on Palparan, Arroyo is telling the nation that to trample on the rights that make man human is "meritorious." By allowing the conferment of the Distinguished Service Star on Palparan, Arroyo is telling the nation that the more than 4,000 human rights violations that were perpetrated by state forces under her watch are "meritorious" acts.
We condemn in the strongest terms the awarding of such honor on a most dishonorable man – nay, a most despicable man. As she has, by approving the conferment of the Distinguished Service Star on Palparan shown her utter contempt for human rights – which as president she is under oath to protect – we reiterate our call for her removal from office.
Artists for the Removal of Gloria (ARREST Gloria)
March 24, 2006
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