Anti-communist task force gets 6 more talking heads
National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. (Joseph Vidal/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — And then there were eight.
Instead of heeding calls, mostly from lawmakers, to fire the two mouthpieces of the government’s anti-insurgency task force who drew flak for red-tagging the organizers of community pantries, an additional six were appointed on Monday.
Tapped by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., also the vice chair of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), to join the “expanded pool of spokespersons” were Interior Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya, Presidential Human Rights Committee secretariat Undersecretary Severo Catura, Presidential Task Force on Media Security Executive Director Jose Joel Egco, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority spokesperson Celine Pialago, lawyer Marlon Bosantog and Gaye Florendo, both from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.
Apart from being designated the spokesperson for mass media engagements, Egco will also be the group’s “fact-checker.”
All six will join Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. and Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy as NTF-Elcac spokespersons to enable the task force to “effectively communicate transparency and accountability in [its] efforts,” Esperon said in a virtual press briefing.
Strengthening the system
He described the move as “strengthening the NTF-Elcac’s spokesperson system.”
“These eight spokespersons come from different agencies of government. The designation of officials under the expanded pool of spokespersons allows for our focus, discourse and engagement with the public,” he pointed out, adding that it was the task force’s way of addressing the propaganda machinery of communist rebels.
Esperon said the designation of spokespersons for specific themes would make it easier to communicate NTF-Elcac’s whole-of-nation approach in ending the insurgency.
“We have the media bureau now that will centralize information and our speakers will be different, in the form [of] eight spokespersons so that not all [of] the work [will go] to only two,” he told reporters.
According to him, none of the spokespersons will be working full-time with the task force although “of course, they are very absorbed [in] our mission.”
For Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, the designation of eight mouthpieces, as well as the retention of one of its controversial spokespersons, only further unmasked the task force as a mere propaganda machine.
The Senate, in a resolution, had called for Parlade’s removal, saying his appointment was a “patent violation” of the Constitution, which prohibited military officers from occupying civilian posts.
At least 15 senators had also denounced Parlade for calling them “stupid” over their threat to defund the task force of its P19-billion budget for 2021 following his comments linking community pantry organizers to the communist movement.
Unprecedented move
Drilon said a “mere task force” having eight spokespersons was unprecedented.
“Why would a mere task force need too many mouthpieces? Is it a judicious use of funds? It only reinforces the fear that NTF-Elcac is a propaganda machine,” he noted.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson also aired his displeasure over Parlade’s retention, saying he has had enough of being the task force’s “most reliable ally” in the Senate.
He expressed disgust that NTF-Elcac had ignored the Senate as an institution, even after it made its collective and legal position known on Parlade’s appointment.
“All I can say is: They made their choice, and it will cost them,” he warned.
In a statement, human rights group Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said the new lineup of spokespersons “represented the hydra that embodies the task force: One that wreaks a virulent aftermath of human rights violations everywhere they go.”
She maintained that the task force needed to be defunded and abolished, not given additional talking heads “who perpetuate more poisonous lies and more rights violations.”
