THE government’s anti-insurgency task force is not bent on firing its spokespersons following an order asking them to keep their mouths shut.
In a television interview, no less than National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon announced that Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade and Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy are keeping their posts as spokespersons, even after they were told to shut up.
However, Esperon assured the public that the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) will review the concerns of some lawmakers against Parlade and Badoy.
“Yes for now General Parlade and Usec. Badoy remains in their positions, but we will have a review within the week. We will see the options available to us. We are not insensitive to the sentiments of our supporters in Congress. We will look into that,” Esperon said.
Earlier, a resolution censuring NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Parlade over his “stupid” remark against members of the Senate was filed by at least 15 lawmakers comprising the upper chamber.
Aside from Parlade, senators are also seriously considering the idea of defunding 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.
Badoy, for her part, accused Ana Patricia Non, the organizer of the Maginhawa community pantry, of having links to communists.
But Patricia Non described Badoy’s Facebook post accusing her of having links to the communist movement as “fake news.”
Non also said her only intention to set up the pantry is help those in need in the time pandemic.
In March, the Senate recommended the removal of Parlade as NTF-ELCAC spokesperson after its inquiry into incidents of “red-tagging.”