Lawmakers oppose gag order against two officials

MANILA: Philippines lawmakers on Monday urged the Duterte administration to dismiss instead of imposing a gag order on two officials denounced for “Red-tagging” the organiser of a “community or village pantry” that provided food and other essential items to poor Metro Manila residents amid the pandemic.

Congresswoman Arlene Brosas of the militant partylist Gabriela said Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade and Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy should be fired instead of being gagged, describing them as “a serious threat to the public.”

Badoy and Parlade have always been and will always be a danger to the public,” Brosas pointed out in a strongly worded statement.

“Many ordinary people have become their victims and their lives were put in danger because of their endless Red-tagging and harassment against them.”

Brosas was reacting to an announcement from National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon that he issued the gag order against Parlade and Badoy who were denounced for linking Ana Patricia Non, who initiated the community pantry in Metro Manila, to communist rebels.

Esperon said he issued the order in his capacity as the chairman of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) where Parlade and Badoy are the joint spokesmen.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian supported the Brosas stand as he singled out Parlade, also the head of the military’s Southern Luzon command, as the “root cause” for the divisiveness among Filipinos “because of his baseless accusations.”

“Even if there’s a gag order, we will still review the NTC-ELCAC budget (totaling $36 million) and continue to push to defund this agency because we have lost trust in the officials of this agency especially General Parlae,” Gatchalian told a radio interview.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon also announced on Monday he filed a resolution seeking to censure Parlade who called the senators “stupid” for backing the move to defund the agency.