Palace: It is up to the Justice Department to assess court’s decision to transfer Palparan to provincial jail

Department of Justice. Photo courtesy of doj.gov.ph

MANILA — The Palace will leave it to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to assess a court decision to transfer former Army Major General Jovito Palparan to the Bulacan Provincial Jail, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said Thursday.

“Ipauubaya po natin ‘yan sa ating panel of prosecutors o sa DOJ. Sila naman ang gumagawa ng assessment hinggil sa bagay na ‘yan at tiyak naman na gagawa sila ng kinauukulang manipestasyon hinggil sa bagay na ‘yan, kung inaakala nilang hindi mainam ang pasya ng hukuman,” Secretary Coloma said during a press briefing in Malacañang.

He was responding to a question on whether Palparan would be safer at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) detention facility than at the Bulacan jail.

Palparan, former commander of the Philippine Army’s 7th Infantry Division, was captured early Tuesday morning, nearly three years since the Malolos Regional Trial Court ordered his arrest over the disappearance in 2006 of two students of the University of the Philippines.

He has also been accused of carrying out the extrajudicial killings of suspected communist sympathizers during the term of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The Malolos Regional Trial Court’s Branch 14 on Wednesday ordered his transfer to the Bulacan Provincial Jail, prompting Palparan’s lawyer to file a motion to prevent the move due to high security risks.