No considerations left for Parlade to stay as NTF-ELCAC spox — Drilon, Lacson

For Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and Senator Panfilo Lacson, there are no considerations left for Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade Jr. to stay as National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson as his civilian post violates the 1987 Constitution.

The lawmakers were reacting to NTF-ELCAC’ vice chair and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon’s statement, saying Parlade and Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy will retain their positions in the task force while they review the concerns of some lawmakers against the two.

“Yes, Sec. Esperon should review, but insofar as Gen. Parlade is concerned, there are no options to consider,” Drilon said in a text message to reporters.

Drilon pointed out anew that the Constitution prohibits active members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to hold civilian positions.

“Moreover, that General Parlade should be relieved of his designation as NTF-ELCAC's spokesperson is not a matter of President (Rodrigo) Duterte's micro-managing the NTF-ELCAC as Sec. (Harry) Roque claims, but a matter of compliance with the constitutional prohibition,” he argued.

Recently, Roque said it is up to the anti-insurgency task force, and not to the President, to decide whether Parlade should be fired as its spokesperson as the Duterte is not a micromanaging NTF-ELCAC.

Similar to Drilon’s argument, Lacson told Esperon to simply read Article XVI, Sec 5, paragraph 4 of the 1987 Constitution in deciding on Parlade’s fate as NTF-ELCAC’s mouthpiece.

“He may not even need one week to review,” Lacson said.

The said provision states that: No member of the armed forces in the active service shall, at any time, be appointed or designated in any capacity to a civilian position in the Government, including government-owned or controlled corporations or any of their subsidiaries.

“As such, Sec. Esperon and Malacañang’s legal staff can simply ask themselves the question: is NTF-ELCAC a civilian office or a unit of the AFP?” Lacson asked.

He also raised Article XVI, Section 5 (3) of the Constitution which states that armed forces shall be insulated from partisan politics and no member of the military shall engage, directly or indirectly, in any partisan political activity, except to vote.

On Tuesday, 15 senators filed a resolution censuring NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Parlade over his “stupid” remark against members of the upper chamber.

Senators also called for the defunding of the NTF-ELCAC, following "red-tagging" of community pantry initiators, who provided free food for those severely-affected by the COVID-19 lockdown.

Parlade then said that it is “stupid” for the senators to recall the budget for the task force as they were the ones who approved the budget to continue with the program. — RSJ, GMA News