MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has told several military generals, including National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesman Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade to refrain from issuing statements on the red-tagging of journalists, Malacañang said yesterday.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the Palace is leaving it up to the Department of National Defense to handle the issue.
Parlade has drawn flak for floating the possibility of filing charges against Inquirer.net reporter Tetch Torres-Tupas, who wrote about the two Aetas who claim to have been tortured by soldiers. The Aetas have asked the Supreme Court (SC) to allow them to join the 37 petitions seeking to declare the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020 as unconstitutional.
Retired Supreme Court Senior associate justice Antonio Carpio and other critics of the Anti-Terrorism Act have cited Parlade’s statement in their latest filing before the high court.
Roque told radio station dzBB in Filipino: “Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has issued guidelines and he has asked the generals to refrain from talking about the issue. If I’m not mistaken, General Parlade has also been informed about it,”
“The President is not a micro manager. He will leave that to Secretary Lorenzana and with regard to the petitioners, we will leave that to the court,” he added.
The STAR tried to reach Lorenzana for additional details but has not received a response.
Media groups National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and the Justice and Court Reporters Association have condemned Parlade’s remark, saying it constitutes a threat against critics of the Anti-Terrorism Act and the journalists covering them.
Red-tagging issue may come up at SC
National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) president Edre Olalia yesterday said the red-tagging issues raised against Parlade might be taken up by the SC when it continues with its oral arguments on the ATA on Tuesday.
Olalia said that aside from the continuation of the interpellation of the 37 petitioners’ lawyers by the 15 SC magistrates, he is not discounting the possibility that the red-tagging incidents allegedly made by Parlade would also be taken up.
On Feb. 9, the oral arguments on Republic Act 11479 or the ATA might also include the “continuation of extensive interpellation of more justices of petitioners’ presenters, possibly also of some petitioners’ counsel on standby. Both procedural and substantive issues will be covered,” Olalia said.
“The red-tagging of Parlade may also come out in the course of the interpellations if the justices deem relevant or material in general or in particular,” he added.
Last Jan. 25, former SC justice Carpio and his cousin, former ombudsman Conchita-Carpio Morales, filed a four-page manifestation and motion on the possible intimidation made by Parlade prior to the first day of oral arguments that took place last Feb. 2.
On Jan. 16, the petitioners found a Facebook post under a certain “Antonio Parlade” that carried a message directed against those assailing the ATA and asked the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), who represents all the respondents, to explain if the social media post is the official communication of the government.
Again, last Feb. 5, Carpio and Morales filed a manifestation before the SC on the Facebook post from the same Parlade account that allegedly made “clear threats” against Torres-Tupas for writing the story on the ATA petition-for-intervention filed by two Aeta farmers – Japer Gurung and Junior Ramos – before the Court.
In Torres’ story, based on the petition filed, the Aetas reportedly claimed that they were tortured for six days, including being forced to eat their own feces.
In the post, the certain Parlade reportedly claimed that Torres-Tupas’ post was “fake” and that she should be charged for violation of Section 12 of the ATA for “aiding the terrorist by spreading lies.”
During the first oral arguments last week, only SC Associate Justices Rosmari Carandang and SC Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas Bernabe were able to interpellate the petitioners’ lawyers. Due to time constraints, SC Associate Justice Marvic Leonen was unable to finish his interpellation, but will continue this on Tuesday.
Olalia said that while it was not necessary that all justices take part in the interpellation, he doubts that it would be the OSG’s turn to give its side tomorrow. But “if there is time left, the SC may ask the SolGen to start.”
Review of operations
Newly installed AFP chief of staff Gen. Cirilito Sobejana said that they will conduct a review of operations to adopt best practices while also learning and rectifying mistakes.
“We will accelerate our peace and security efforts in all aspects, not just combat, but also civil military and intelligence operations. That triad, we would accelerate and we will make back-up plans and approaches,” he said in a mix of Filipino and English in an interview on dzBB.
Sobejana said that they will continue their campaign against threat groups, with no expected reshuffling of top military officials anytime soon.
He again urged military personnel to exercise due diligence, following some recent missteps.
This includes the publication of an erroneous list identifying alumni of the University of the Philippines as members of the New People’s Army.
“On my part, my guidance is we would need to be deliberate. We have to exercise due diligence especially in revealing information. We don’t want to confuse the public,” he said.
Sobejana has tried to distance the AFP from the tirades of Parlade. “I would like to make clear that Gen. Parlade, on top of his being the commander of Southern Luzon Command, is also the spokesperson for NTF-ELCAC,” he added.— Evelyn Macairan, Romina Cabrera