Parlade downplays chilling effect caused by background checks on community pantries

Government anti-insurgency task force spokesperson Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade Jr. on Wednesday said pantry organizers should not be worried about authorities checking their background.

Parlade said that the setup of community pantries had been ‘controversial’ because of the background of some organizers.

“ Kung wala ka namang dapat ikatakot, bakit ka matakot?” Parlade said in a One News interview.

[If you have nothing to be scared about, why would you be scared?]

“’Yan ang palaging ini-insist. I really don’t know what is that chilling effect. Ikaw makakaramdam ng ganyan kung meron kang kinatatakot,” he added.

[That’s what they are always insisting. I really don’t know what is that chilling effect. You will feel that if you have something to be scared about.]

On Tuesday, Parlade, spokesperson for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, admitted that the NTF-ELCAC was checking the background of the organizers of community pantries.

Parlade claimed that some leftist groups were copying the community pantry activities from well-meaning individuals to push their propaganda.

"We're just checking itong background ng mga 'to. Yes, tsini-check 'yan,” Parlade said.

[We're just checking their background. Yes, they are being checked]

"Habang nandoon sila sa community, meron silang propaganda na ginagawa. May sinasabi silang gutom ang mga tao dahil sa kapalpakan ng gobyerno, kung anu-ano pa," he added.

[While they're in the community, they tell the people that there is hunger because the government failed.]

On Wednesday, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. the NTF-ELCAC would look into the possible affiliations of community pantry organizers to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

“We'll also look into the organizers especially if they advertised their organizations that would be traced to be front organizations of the CPP-NPA,” Esperon said, referring to the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army.

“We would also like to look into possible participation of personalities that may have other agenda, that may turn these projects into some for political and agitation purposes,” he added.

On Monday, Ana Patricia Non, organizer of the Maginhawa Community Pantry, said the pantry would temporarily halt their operations for the safety of its volunteers amid the alleged red-tagging by government security forces.

Organizers of similar initiatives also reported they were being asked for their personal information by government authorities.

Philippine National Police chief Police General Debold Sinas on Tuesday denied the alleged police profiling of organizers of community pantries, which sprouted recently amid the COVID-19 pandemic. -NB, GMA News