MORE NEWS, BULACAN

Palparan says Bulacan cops hunting him down
By George Trillo

MALOLOS CITY – Retired Army general Jovito Palparan claimed police have been hunting him down for days and this perturbed him. But Senior Supt. Allen Bantolo, acting Bulacan police director, denied Palparan’s claim, saying they have no arrest warrant for the retired general. Palparan told local media he received information that men of the 306th Provincial Mobile Group have been looking for him.

Palparan was in Barangay Camachin in the mountain town of Donya Remedios Trinidad a few days ago to bring down members of his 24-Hours Security Agency guarding an iron ore mine site, in compliance with the temporary restraining order issued by Judge Rodolfo de Guzman of the San Ildefonso Municipal Trial Court last July 29. De Guzman is hearing the case filed by Ore Asian Mining and Development Corp. (Ore Asia) against Palparan and officials of the Oro Development Corp. II (Odeco) last April 29 for forcible entry and damages.

Palparan said he was following the court order to bring his men down from the mine site when he got information that police were looking for him.

“I don’t know why I am being hunted,” said the retired general, who had been tagged by Central Luzon militants as berdugo (executioner) when he was the commanding general of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division from 2005 to 2006.

Palparan said two weeks ago, a guard of the K-9 Security Agency was killed and another was wounded when some 60 heavily armed men barged into their barracks, near the contested mine site, in Barangay Camachin, Donya Remedios Trinidad town.

The armed men, who introduced themselves as communist rebels, were reportedly looking for Palparan’s men or personnel of 24-Hours Security Agency, which Odeco II officials allegedly contracted when they raided and took over the facilities of Ore Asia last April 12. Palparan said he is unsure if the armed men were indeed insurgents.

Last week, he said policemen accosted four of his men and took their firearms. The four, he added, remain missing while their guns have been recovered from the town police.

Meanwhile, Bantolo confirmed that men of the 306th Provincial Mobile Group went to Barangay Camachin Tuesday to investigate the alleged sighting of armed men there.

Bantolo also maintained a hands-off policy on the row between Ore Asia and Odeco II in Barangay Camachin since it is now under litigation, saying their only concern is the reported “existence of armed men.”