The Commission on Human Rights condemned Monday the use of Republic Act 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 to threaten to sue a journalist over a story on the supposed military abuse of two Aetas in Zambales.
“CHR condemns any attempt to use laws to curtail rights, as we are equally vigilant against assertions of freedoms that infringe upon the rights of others,” lawyer-spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said.
“We reiterate that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2020 has stressed concerns over ‘what appears to be ‘a pattern of intimidation’ of independent news sources,’ further aggravated by practices of red tagging and filing of legal cases against journalists,” the CHR said.
Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. threatened to file charges against Inquirer.net reporter Tetch Torres-Tupas for coming out with a story about the torture of two Aetas by the military.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana defended Parlade Jr. from criticisms over the latter’s statement against a journalist.
“This is a very thin line between freedom of speech and doing the other way like the other side or the terrorists,” Lorenzana said in an interview on CNN-Philippines.
In a Facebook post, Parlade said: "Congratulations for a sloppy work Tetch Torres-Tupas of Inquirer.net. You did not even bother to check the side of the AFP and gov't if what you are reporting is true or FAKE. Propagandista. No such thing happened. That unit is not even there but in Davao."
When asked by a netizen if charges could be filed against Torres-Tupaz, Parlade replied: "Aiding the terrorists by spreading lies? Possible."
Aside from being the chief of Armed Forces Southern Luzon Command, Parlade also serves as the spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
For Lorenzana, the report of the media supposedly insisting the alleged torture by state forces was somehow adding the terrorists.
In a related development, Lorenzana said he was open to reconsidering his decision to terminate the agreement with the University of the Philippines banning police and military forces inside campus.
Interviewed on CNN Philippines, Lorenzana said that during the meeting of UP and Department of Defense officials last Thursday, he told UP president Danilo Concepcion that he would think about withdrawing his decision.
“I told Danny Concepcion I will think about it,” Lorenzana said when asked if he was considering rethinking the termination of the agreement.
However, he said he would wait first for the recommendation of the panel created to discuss the DND-UP accord issue before deciding.
“But now that we have this panel who will talk in finding ways to move forward, let us not preempt the recommendation. We will wait for the recommendation later. We will move from there,” he said.
In January, the DND ended the decades-old pact with UP that prevented state forces from entering the campus without prior coordination with school officials, claiming that the university has become a recruitment spot for communist and rebel groups.
The UP community and other concerned groups protested the termination, which they said would affect the academic freedom of the university with a threat of militarization. UP officials denied that they allow the recruitment of communist rebels in the campus.
