Aside from legal moves, activist groups on Sunday said that protest actions would be launched against retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan who is set to assume his seat in the House of Representatives after being proclaimed by the Commission on Elections Friday.

Leaders of the activist groups said they are set to kick off their week-long protest actions against Palparan by burning photocopied photos of his face at the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City.

They are protesting against Palparan’s inclusion in the Lower House as a lawmaker from the party-list group Bantay.

“Starting on Monday we will burn 100 faces of Palparan by the gates of the House of Representatives and we will continue this expression of outrage till Friday this week,” said Imelda Lacandazo, vice-chairperson of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and spokesperson of Katipunan ng Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK).

Joining Lacandazo are leaders of the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), and the peasant women federation Amihan.

Lacandazao said in a statement that their campaign “Palparan sa Kulungan, Hindi sa Kongreso” (Palparan in Jail, Not In Congress) is part of their “protracted battle for justice.”

She added that they will hold “protest actions, signature campaign and lobbying inside the House of Representatives where we will convince other members of Congress to cross party lines and kick out this criminal and bogus party list representative from the Lower Chamber of Congress.”

The groups are accusing Palparan of being involved in the spate of extrajudicial killings in areas where he was assigned during his stint in the military, particularly in Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Eastern Visayas. Activists have even called him “The Butcher of Mindoro.”

“Fighting chance”

Meanwhile, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said that the move to expel Palparan from Congress has a “fighting chance.”

Hicap cited House Resolution 999 which was initiated by Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo. The resolution was signed in February by 40 congressmen who opposed the appointment of Palparan to any government post.

“We will write and talk to friendly congressmen to join our cause against Palparan and support another resolution calling for the expulsion of a political criminal and terrorist at large,” said Hicap.

“It is long a way to go, but painstaking work and our justice driven campaign will convince other lawmakers to junk Palparan and send him behind bars instead,” he added.

“No legal obstacle”

Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr., meanwhile, reiterated on Sunday that there is “no legal obstacle” to prevent the party-list groups who have been proclaimed by the Comelec to have their respective nominees from becoming members of the House of Representatives.

Despite reservations from the leadership of the House of Representatives, Comelec proclaimed on Friday the additional winning party-list groups entitled to one or more seats, raising the number of sectoral members in the chamber from 22 to 51.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court (SC) reversed itself and ruled that all the available seats for the party-list system should be filled up in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution. The Constitution states that representatives from the under-represented and marginalized should constitute 20 percent of the House membership.

“Take a look at the Supreme Court (SC) ruling. The decision is very clear. Its immediately executory. The Commission on Elections proclaimed them,” said Nograles in a text message to ABS-CBN News on Sunday.

While he said that the lower House would no longer question the SC decision on the party-list groups becoming members of Congress, they may seek some seek some legal clarifications on the ruling. He said that however that they are still trying to look at legal options but said that they may file “a motion for intervention as the House is not a party to the case.”

“Meantime the House may need to exercise its ministerial function and accept the new congressmen under the party-list system. As speaker, I will soon order their inclusion in our roll call of members,” said Nograles.

Nograles on Saturday said on Saturday that Bayan Muna's plan to file disqualification petitions before the Comelec against Palparan has no legal basis.

"This news about any move to disqualify General Palparan et al may not have any legal basis at the moment," Nograles said in a text message to reporters on Saturday. "They all have been proclaimed by the Comelec, and I will administer their oaths and include their names in the roster of the House."

Nograles said that only the lower House can "let go" of Palparan as member once he is proclaimed by the Comelec.

"Once proclaimed, only and only the House has exclusive jurisdiction to remove any member of the chamber," he said.

“Behave yourselves”

Nograles, meanwhile, asked Palparan and activist legislators, especially Ocampo, to “behave” and exercise “decorum and civility and maintain peace and order and harmony in the House.”

“We should all remember that we are all elected Representatives of the House of the People. The leadership expects that we all maintain decorum, civility, peace and order and harmony in the House,” Nograles said in a statement.

The House Speaker asked the legislators to set aside what the statement called as “personal animosities” and instead act as role models in the nation’s quest for peace, unity and progress.

“This is the principle behind our party list system. We want our marginalized sectors to be represented in making policies for our government. All these name-calling and vicious personality bashing should now stop and allow the healing process to begin,” Nograles said in the statement.

Nograles also added that he is committed to make sure that everyone, whether in the majority or in the minority, are able to participate in the free exchange of ideas.

“Just like all others proclaimed by the Comelec, General Palparan has every right to assume his position as a new member of Congress because that was what the Supreme Court said. It's not for me nor Satur to say otherwise and therefore, he will have the same privilege as any congressman,” Nograles said.

Internet “cause”

Meanwhile protest actions launched against Palparan has reached the World Wide Web.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), in a statement, said that as 10:13 pm on April 26, 2009 more than 1,000 people on the popular social networking site Facebook (FB) have joined them against the retired general.

“The FB cause was created to raise awareness of Gen. Jovito Palparan and the various human rights abuses he has been involved in. It is also a political statement against what many believe is a gross injustice, that a person like Palparan is able to get a seat in Congress even if he doesn’t represent any marginalized sector and despite his involvement in human rights abuses,” said Renato M. Reyes, Jr., Bayan secretary general.

The group said that in just four days, it has gathered 1,000 members or supporters. Members reportedly include students, artists, activists, bloggers and networks in Philippines as well as various parts of the world.

“The huge response we received in just a few days shows that there is a lot of indignation regarding Palparan’s entry into Congress via the partylist system. There is great concern that the Arroyo government has not done anything to make Palparan accountable for his involvement in human rights abuses,” Reyes added.

The Facebook “cause” wants to have people support: “To see that Palparan is prosecuted and justice achieved for human rights victims.”
 
“For people who may not be able to join rallies, they can still make their voices heard by joining the cause,” Reyes said in the statement.
 
“Butcher”

Ocampo and other activist groups gave Palparan the nickname "Butcher" for allegedly ordering the killing of several activists while in active military service.

A 2006 government commission investigating extrajudicial killings of journalists, leftist activists, and outspoken clergy has implicated members of the military and identified Palparan in its report as the "prime suspect behind the extrajudicial killings" in the Philippines.

"There is certainly evidence pointing the finger of suspicion at some elements and personalities in the armed forces, in particular General Palparan, as responsible for an undetermined number of killings, by allowing, tolerating, and even encouraging the killings," the Melo Commission said in its report.

The commission was headed by now Comelec Chairman Jose Melo, who led the proclamation of Palparan and 28 other new party-list representatives on Friday.

The proclamation followed the Supreme Court's ruling last Tuesday increasing the number of party-list seats in the House. With a report from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News