Military probe on Parlade should be 'thorough, impartial' —HRW

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) is calling for a thorough and impartial investigation by the military into the controversial remarks of anti-insurgency official Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade Jr.

In a statement Thursday, HRW Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson said the investigation on Parlade, spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, should also be "start of larger efforts to hold to account all government officials who give a wink and a nod to extrajudicial killings by their 'red-tagging'."

Robertson issued the statement after Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana said they are investigating Parlade, who is also the commander of Southern Luzon Command, over his recent remark against a journalist.

"The big question is whether this action is a one-off, or whether pressure against the military's use of red-baiting tactics may finally be having an impact," Robertson said.

Parlade has already apologized to the journalist, Inquirer.net's Tetch Torres-Tupas. He has also welcomed the military investigation on him. 

According to Robertson, communist-baiting has long been part of the Philippine government's counterinsurgency campaign and has been linked to many killings over the years.

Citing a June 2020 report of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, he said red-tagging in the Philippines has "posed a serious threat to civil society and freedom of expression."

"The problem does not start and stop with Parlade. President Rodrigo Duterte has frequently used 'red tagging' to attack leftist critics of his administration," he said.

In November last year, Robertson pointed out that Duterte accused Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Zarate of being a communist. Aside from him, Robertson said that other administration officials have also red-tagged their critics.

"'Red-tagging' constricts further the increasingly diminished democratic space in the Philippines, where activists, rights lawyers, journalists, and even ordinary Filipinos on social media are under threat," he added. —Joviland Rita/KBK/RSJ, GMA News