Opposition lawmakers chided Thursday Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, a staunch anti-communist military official, for allegedly red-tagging actress Liza Soberano after appearing in a webinar against gender-based exploitation and sexual harassment.
Parlade commented on Soberano when she appeared in the webinar sponsored by Gabriela Youth.
Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said Parlade has been “red-tagging anyone who works or espousing the same cause and issues of progressive groups.”
“Anybody and everybody should speak out against abuse and not let them be until they are extinguished,” said Zarate.
He chided Parlade for allegedly assuming that “celebrities, the youth, women, urban poor, lumad and rural folk are ignorant or even stupid, to stand up for their rights and beliefs on their own.”
In a separate statement, Gabriela Partylist Rep. Arlene Brosas finds it “starkly ironic” for Parlade to appeal to stop red-tagging Soberano when it was the military official who actually made the accusation.
“By saying that Soberano is “not yet an NPA,” he is maliciously associating the actress with the armed movement when what she did in the youth forum was only to speak up for all the victims of gender-based violence and abuse,” said Brosas.
She stated: “It is clear that Parlade, the NTF-ELCAC and the paid trolls are the ones who are rabidly red-tagging Liza Soberano and other female celebrities and influencers who are taking a stand and speaking out against the macho-fascism under the Duterte regime.”
Reacting to the statements of the Makabayan solons and Senator Risa Hontiveros, Parlade said it is “government’s job to expose this duplicitous nature of the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines).
“But we differ in the way Gabriela exploits these genuine advocates, because the CPP's underground MAKIBAKA, is the one stirring and orchestrating it,” said the general.
He described the CPP as a monster that “knows no friend.”
“They will feed you to the lion's den if you are not careful. This is what happened to Jo Lapira, Ren Manalo, Camille Manangan etc., Gabriela Youth who were all killed for ceasing to be a plain activist and ended up being with the terrorist,” Parlade noted.