Carpio raises Parlade ‘threat’ to SC

MANILA, Philippines — Retired Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Friday raised to the attention of the Supreme Court (SC) the alleged threat made by a military official against a journalist.

In a four-page manifestation, Carpio said Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr.’s attack against the journalist “engenders fear that chills journalists or even citizens from exercising their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of the press.”

Parlade heads the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Southern Luzon Command and is the spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

In a Facebook post, Parlade accused the journalist of spreading fake news for reporting on two Aetas who filed a petition before the SC to join the oral arguments on the anti-terror law.

In the petition, the Aetas claimed they were tortured by soldiers in Zambales.

Parlade said the journalist could be charged with violating the anti-terror law for “aiding the terrorists by spreading lies,” an offense punishable with a prison term of 12 years to life.

Carpio said Parlade’s posts are clear threats against a member of the free press protected by Section 4 of the Bill of Rights.

“Moreover, the threats’ obvious invasion of protected expressive rights is possible only because the language of the (anti-terror law) is vague and overbroad, casting a wide net of possibilities,” he added.

Carpio and former ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales are among 37 petitioners who are questioning the constitutionality of the anti-terror law before the SC, which is set to hold the second round of oral arguments on the law on Tuesday.