Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. Senate PRIB file photo / Joseph Vidal
MANILA, Philippines — Majority of senators are now supporting a resolution seeking to censure Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. following his “very disrespectful, derogatory and demeaning” remarks against the Senate and some of its members.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon has yet to file the resolution in the Senate but according to his office, 13 other senators have already signed the measure.
Aside from Drilon, those who signed the resolution are Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, Senators Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, Joel, Villanueva, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Sherwin Gatchalian, Leila de Lima, Richard Gordon, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo Lacson, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, and Pia Cayetano.
“It’s not a matter of appeasing the Senate, it’s a matter of upholding the dignity of the Senate,” Drilon earlier told reporters when asked about his resolution.
This stemmed from Parlade’s “stupid” remark against senators, who want to defund the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) over red-tagging issues.
National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon has already issued a gag order to Parlade and Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, who are spokespersons of the task force.
Despite this, Drilon said he would proceed with the filing of the resolution saying, “this is not something that we can’t let go of once these gag orders are issued.”
He stressed that calling senators stupid is “very disrespectful, derogatory and demeaning.”
“We don’t deserve such disrespectful language, calling us stupid,” he said.
In supporting the resolution, Sotto said Parlade should be censured “if they will not remove him.”
“The sense of my colleagues is that the personalities involved were attacking the Senate,” the Senate leader said in another message to reporters.
The Senate already recommended last year Parlade’s immediate relief from his post also because of red-tagging issues.