Has democracy prevailed against how it defines terror? Not when the very government that denounces terrorism uses the methods of terror itself.
The acquittal may obscure our better memory of Palparan as a convicted man in another case, the disappearance of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño. While in detention, . Sherlyn was lying naked and was tied to a chair that had fallen on the ground, beaten, electrocuted, half-drowned. He also saw Karen stripped naked, bound, beaten, water-tortured, burned with cigarettes, and raped with pieces of wood.
“The soldiers were drinking one night when I heard them say that two pretty girls had been captured. They wanted to make the girls dance. One of them said the two should make good f_cks. I saw the girls pass by the door of my cell. They were blindfolded.” “I met Karen and Manuel later. The five of us – the girls, Manuel Merino, my brother, and myself were taken from camp to camp, cooking and washing and cleaning for the soldiers. I saw the soldiers steal from villagers. I saw them bring in blindfolded prisoners. I saw them digging graves. I saw them burn bodies, pour gasoline on them. Once I saw them shoot an old man sitting on a carabao.”
“I was there when they killed Manuel Merino. They took him away, and I followed. I heard him begging and moaning. There was a gunshot. Then there was fire.”