MORONG, Bataan, Philippines — The Bataan Police Provincial Office (PPO) confirmed Thursday that it is verifying reports that retired General Jovito Palparan had been sighted twice in this province.

Senior Superintendent Arnold D. Gunnacao, Bataan PPO director, said three teams of fully-armed policemen were deployed Thursday morning and have started combing the mountainous areas of this town, in nearby Bagac, and Abucay where Palparan was reportedly sighted.

Gunnacao said Palparan was sighted first in the towns of Morong and Bagac last January 10. Then on January 23, Palparan was seen in Abucay town, he said.

Palparan, who used to be the commander of the Army’s 24th Infantry Battalion in the 1980s and has since established close relationships with a number of people here, is being sought by authorities over the disappearance of University of the Philippines students.