MANILA, Philippines—Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., the spokesperson of a counterinsurgency task force with a P19-billion budget for 2021, appeared to be trying to make amends with Sen. Richard Gordon after he said it was “stupid” for senators to call for defunding the task force.
Parlade, however, did not say sorry in his remark and said he was called stupid and imbecile by Gordon, too. He said despite the senator’s remarks, he was not considering calling for the dissolution of the Philippine National Red Cross, which Gordon heads, or calling for soldiers to stop giving blood to Gordon’s group.
“I am a regular blood donor of the Red Cross. I also encourage my soldiers to donate blood often,” Parlade said in a Facebook post on Monday (April 26).
“But Senator Gordon called me STUPID and IMBECILIC. Should I stop donating or campaign for the abolition of PNRC? No. It’s not fair to those in need of blood, especially to soldiers who often need them,” Parlade said.
“So peace na tayo Senator sir. Madami nadadamay,” said Parlade, who also heads the military’s Southern Luzon Command.
A number of senators have called for a review and defunding of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Eclac), which had tapped Parlade as spokesperson and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon as vice chairperson.
Gordon, in a television interview last week, said the red-tagging practice of Parlade on behalf of the task force was “imbecilic, stupid and shameful.”
Parlade later said it was “stupid” for senators to consider defunding the task force because they had approved its budget in the first place.
Senators approved the government’s proposed P19-billion budget for the task force in 2020. Among the uses of the funds was supposedly for development projects of 800 villages “freed” of communist rebel influence.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said he would file a resolution censuring Parlade for “very disrespectful” remarks against senators and “unjustified red-tagging” of civilians, especially those who criticize the Duterte administration.
Parlade had been widely panned on social media for comments likening the community pantry movement started by businesswoman Ana Patricia Non to the work of Satan. He later blamed the media for misquoting him.
TSB
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