Malacañang is leaving the decision to the government’s counter-insurgency task force whether or not its spokesperson Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. should be sacked from his post over his controversial remarks on community pantries and senators.
Noting that President Duterte “does not micromanage,” his spokesperson Harry Roque said it is up to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to decide on Parlade’s fate.
“Bahala na po ang NTF-ELCAC kung susundin nila ang rekomendasyon ni Senator (Panfilo) Lacson (It’s up to the NTF-ELCAC if they will follow the recommendation of Senator Lacson),” he said in his Tuesday’s online media briefing.
The Senate has adopted a committee report recommending the removal of Parlade as the task force’s spokesperson. Lacson, who chairs the Senate committee on national defense, sponsored the report.
Several lawmakers have also pushed to defund the national anti-communist task force next year and reallocate its P19 billion budget for financial aid over Parlade’s involvement in red-tagging incidents.
With this threat, the military official responded by calling the senators “stupid,”prompting the latter to file Senate Resolution No. 709 stating that Parlade should be censured for his “disrespectful, derogatory, and demeaning statements.”
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon led the filing of the resolution. Signing it were Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, and 11 other senators.
Palace stands with the National Security Adviser (NSA) chief Hermogenes Esperon’s gag order on Parlade and Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy following their disparaging remarks against some organizers of community pantries.
Esperon is the vice chairperson of the NTF-ELCAC.
Roque said he has already talked to Esperon and he confirmed telling both spokespersons to remain calm and be more careful with their statements.
He emphasized that officials should be more careful with their words and “kailangan mas malawak ang kanilang pananaw (should be more open minded).”