Sen. Richard Gordon has questioned the continuing stay of Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. as mouthpiece of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
“They placed the wrong person here,” said Gordon during a virtual forum sponsored by the Federation of Filipino-Chamber of Commerce Wednesday afternoon.
Gordon said Parlade’s appointment as spokesperson of the government’s anti-insurgency program is violative of the Constitution which does not allow a military official to hold a concurrent civilian position.
“Why is the Duterte administration, with all due respect to my friend Digong (President Rodrigo Duterte), why do you always get the military? There are many other good people who can help,” the senator said.
Gordon said if Parlade is so intent on red-tagging community pantries—regardless of whether the organizers are communists or not—the military official should consider using NTF-ELCAC’s multi-billion-peso budget to help families affected by the pandemic instead.
“Why are you (Parlade) making it a big issue if the communists are giving food?” the senator said.
Earlier, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra urged Congress to pass a law that clearly defines and expressly penalizes “what is loosely called” red-tagging.
“If the Congress is minded to criminalize red-tagging, it should enact the appropriate legislation,” Guevarra said, in a text message to reporters.
“Right now, complaints may revolve around defamation, harassment, coercion, unjust vexation, or violation of privacy laws, but not for an offense called ‘red-tagging,’” he added.
If the law is enacted, the Justice Secretary said it “may help reduce the problem of reckless endangerment.”
“It’s really something for the Congress to ponder,” he said.
Some 15 senators led by Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon have filed Resolution No. 709, which censures Parlade for his disrespectful, derogatory, and demeaning statements against senators, calling them “stupid.”
“It should be emphasized that members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines should always remain apolitical while in active service, otherwise, it threatens the democratic principle of civilian supremacy over the military,” the senators said in their resolution.
Apart from Sotto, the other senators who co-authored the resolution include Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri and Senators Nancy Binay, Pia Cayetano, Grace Poe, Sherwin Gatchalian, Leila de Lima, Gordon, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo Lacson, Francis Pangilinan, Aquilino Pimentel IV, and Joel Villanueva.
The 15 senators also defended the rise of community pantries, which were subjected to red-tagging by NTF-ELCAC, as they stressed that that “progressive thinking is not communism.”
Drilon said he is certain that the resolution will be adopted when session resumes on May 17.
