‘Red-tagging’ report: Senate panel finds Parlade’s remarks ‘damaging’ to AFP

(FILE PHOTO) Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. Photo by (Joseph Vidal/Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines — “Undue public propaganda” caused by controversial pronouncements of Southern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. is “damaging” to the integrity of the Duterte administration’s anti-insurgency task force as well as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

This was the observation of the Senate defense committee, which issued a 66-page report on its investigation of the so-called Red-tagging activities by the military. The report was dated February 22 and posted on the Senate’s official website on Wednesday.

“It bears emphasis that ‘personal opinion’ [does] not absolve Gen. Parlade from his lack of sense of responsibility and negligence in issuing contentious statements to the media and his Facebook account,” the report read.

According to the panel, Parlade’s public remarks “could never be disassociated” from his position as the spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) and a high-ranking official of AFP.

“This unnecessary public propaganda proves to be counterproductive and damaging to the organizational integrity of both the NTF-ELCAC and the AFP,” the Senate defense committee report noted.

“Without substantiated claims filed before the courts of law, these unfounded pronouncements will only be rendered malicious,” it further said.

The committee then cited as an example Parlade’s recent statements against INQUIRER.net reporter Tetch Torres-Tupas, whom the military official dubbed a “propagandist” in a Facebook post.

READ: Media orgs, groups blast Parlade for threat vs INQUIRER.net reporter

“At the time when Supreme Court is hearing 37 petitions against the Anti-Terrorism Act, particularly on the issue involving ‘overbreadth doctrine among others, such remarks from Gen. Parlade were uncalled for and unnecessary,” the panel said.

Parlade had said his social media post against Torres-Tupas meant no harm to the journalist.

The committee, meanwhile, highlighted that a citizen’s free speech, the right to organize and form associations, peacefully assemble, and petition the government for a redress of grievances, are guaranteed under the 1987 Constitution.

“Nevertheless, it is a settled principle that the exercise of those rights is not absolute for it may be so regulated if it will be injurious to the equal enjoyment of others having equal rights, or injurious to the rights of the community or society,” it noted.

While it recognizes the duty of NTF-ELCAC to raise awareness against the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), the Senate panel said this “should not be construed to be a justification for any arbitrary actions against the freedom of expression,” which is protected under the Constitution.

“While the AFP is the protector of the people and the State, naming individuals and groups as part of the armed struggle waged by the CPP is inconsistent with and not part of this whole-of-nation approach to counterinsurgency,” the report read.

“The many pronouncements of Lt. Gen. Parlade, verbal and written online, have paved a warpath against personalities, entities, and organizations who are critical of the government,” it added.

The committee report was signed by 13 senators, including Lacson. It has yet to be brought for plenary discussion.

KGA