Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto lectured on Friday, April 23, the spokesperson of the government's anti-insurgency task force for cracking down on organizers of community pantries.

Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade, Jr. again earned the ire of senators for red-tagging volunteers who have put up community pantries, particularly Ana Patricia Non, who started the donation-driven movement to help feed indigent families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parlade is the spokesman of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which shared social media posts linking the organizers to communist rebels. His statements triggered calls for the defunding of the NTF-ELCAC.

"The P16 billion in taxes paid by the people was given to that body so it can run after the Communist Party, not community pantries," Recto said in his statement.

"Something is terribly wrong when a general berates a millennial because she fed her neighbors. There is no valor in that," he told Parlade.

"Community pantries are the civic spaces which are not only stations of compassion but also showcase the best in the Filipino. Bawal ang haters doon (Haters are not allowed). But on second thought, the more they hate, the more the people give," he added.

The Senate leader defended Non against Parlade's claims, and his comparison of the 26-year-old volunteer to "Satan's apple".

"Someone called her Satan. But to millions who believe in her cause, and are taking it up, she has become the Patreng saint of Maginhawa," said the lawmaker.

Recto said: "The enemy is not this petite woman who pushed a kariton of vegetables. If there’s one adversary that requires our generals’ attention, then these are the foreign gunboats pushing deeper into our territory and shooing our fishermen away."

"Patreng’s act launched a thousand community pantries. That is not a crime. The real lawbreakers are those who have launched a thousand ships to empty our seas of food that should have been ours," he continued, referring to China's persistent incursions in the West Philippines Sea.

"Fighting hunger does not make one an armed combatant," he pointed out.

Recto said Parlade's recent statements are also becoming "unfair" to his fellow soldiers as these also affect the image of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

"Because one officer’s perceived act of bullying does not endear our Armed Forces to the people they have sworn to protect," he said.

Despite the NTF-ELCAC's position, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, on Friday, expressed support for the community pantries, sharing photos of soldiers donating food items.

He said the department is "ready to assist" in the efforts and deploy mobile kitchens if necessary.