As senators scold Parlade for threatening reporter, new AFP chief promises to do better
MANILA, Philippines — Two senators on Thursday night berated Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. for accusing a journalist of being a propagandist for communist rebels.
Parlade, spokesman for the National Task Force to End Local Conflict, threatened to sue Inquirer.net reporter Tetch Torres-Tupas over her report on two Aeta farmers who said that they were tortured into admitting that they were members of the New People's Army.
The farmers implored the Supreme Court to allow them to join the legal battle against the Anti-Terrorism Act, the same law under which Parlade threatened to file a suit against Torres-Tupas for what he said was aiding terrrorists.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan on Twitter called on Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to "show Parlade the door," as he did with Maj. Gen. Alex Luna. Luna was sacked as military intelligence chief after military social media accounts published an erroneous list of alleged communist rebels who the military claimed were killed or captured.
People on the list, among them lawyers and former government officials, held an online press conference to deny the claims and to show that they are, in fact, alive.
"Enough of this unprofessionalism and lack of discipline with such baseless, erroneous public statements," Pangilinan also said.
Enough of this unprofessionalism and lack of discipline with such baseless, erroneous public statements. Like AFP Intel Chief Luna, Lorenzana should show Parlade the door. pic.twitter.com/TF0JraoJ5s
— Kiko Pangilinan (@kikopangilinan) February 4, 2021
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a principal author of the anti-terror law and chair of the Senate defense committee, scored Parlade for constantly creating unnecessary problems for the AFP by making "careless and insensitive remarks."
"Coming at a time when the Solicitor General is defending the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 against 37 petitions, particularly on the issue involving 'overbreadth doctrine' among others, such remarks from a high-ranking military official [are] uncalled for and totally unnecessary."
Lacson claimed, contrary to many petitioners, that basic freedoms, such as freedom of speech, "remain to be protected and upheld" under the contested law.
READ: 44 petitioners ask SC to void anti-terrorism law for curtailing civil liberties | Diokno to SC justices: Social media posts may be considered terrorism under anti-terror law
"Accusing a journalist of 'aiding the terrorists by spreading lies'....surely does not help the government to convince the magistrates of the Supreme Court to rule in its favor."
A slew of threats hurled by Parlade against celebrities and progressive groups caused Lacson, who chairs the Senate committee on defense, to open a probe last November. The military presented alleged former rebels to the Senate panel to testify against legal organizations that the government has labeled as "communist fronts".
READ: Amid promised oversight of anti-terror law, how has the Senate probed past abuses?
'We will learn from our mistakes'
Addressing the controversies sparked by Parlade and Luna, Lt. Gen. Cirilto Sobejana, who took over as armed forces chief on Thursday, promised Friday that the military would learn from its mistakes.
However, he stopped short of disputing Parlade's accusations, instead telling ANC's "Headstart" that the military will "validate the statement," discuss it, and then "present to the public whatever evidences we are able to gather."
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and Justice and Court Reporters' Association have condemned Parlade's threat and have pointed out that Torres-Tupas was quoting the petition that the two Aeta farmers had filed.
"Henceforth, my instruction was that whenever we talk, or whatever things we do, we should be very deliberate, we should exercise due diligence," Sobejana also said on Friday.
"In that way, we can give good service to our countrymen, we should not hurt anybody unless he is the enemy of the state." — with a report from Kristine Joy Patag
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