US embassy cables tagged Palparan on killings
by Jojo Malig, abs-cbnNEWS.com

MANILA, Philippines – Retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, who has been ordered indicted by the Department of Justice (DOJ), was mentioned in more than a dozen US embassy cables that tackled extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.

The cables, some labeled confidential, have been published by anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

US embassy cable 07MANILA468 sent purportedly in the name of then US ambassador Kristie Kenney, said the head of a special commission that looked into the killings met with Palparan and then Armed Forces chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon to tackle the killings.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo said Palparan — who was accused of involvement in abduction and killings of activists — claimed that he could not “control” troops under his command who might engage in such illegal behavior.

“MG Palparan even acknowledged to the Commission that he ‘might have encouraged’ such killings, but claimed that those were the ‘individual responsibility’ of whoever committed the killings,” the cable said.

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